Nevada adds 501 new COVID-19 cases, 18 deaths
Nevada on Friday reported an additional 501 cases of the coronavirus and 18 more fatalities, according to state data.
The updated figures posted to the Department of Health and Human Service’s coronavirus website raised the total cases in the state to 75,096, while the number of fatalities rose to 1,524.
The infection rate, which is considered a better indicator of the trend of the outbreak than daily case counts and fatalities, rose slightly from 11.44 percent on Thursday to 11.45 percent on Friday.
The rate is calculated by the Review-Journal as the number of confirmed cases divided by the number of people tested. It has been inching lower since hitting a recent peak of 11.63 percent on Sept. 4.
As of Friday, 655,860 people in Nevada have been tested for the virus, according to state data.
The state also reported that the hospitalizations of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases had declined by 23 over the preceding day to 461. Earlier this week, the hospitalizations for current or suspected cases increased three days in a row.
The Nevada Hospital Association said in an update Wednesday that such “fluctuations are anticipated following a major holiday and do not pose any issue so long as the infrastructure can adapt and incorporate new cases into the health care system. Nevada is well poised to accommodate the anticipated increases at this time.”
Meanwhile, the Southern Nevada Health District reported 302 additional cases in Clark County on Friday, along with 16 more fatalities.
The new data on the health district’s coronavirus website brought the total cases in the county to 63,603 and raised the death toll to 1,325.
An estimated 58,994 people have recovered from the disease, according to county data.
Nye County on Friday reported only one additional case, raising the total cases in the county to 492. The additional case was in Pahrump, the only Nye County city that has reported cases in the past week, the county said in an emailed statement.
The county health districts and the state redistribute data on cases and deaths in an effort to better reflect the onset of symptoms or date of death, so daily numbers often do not correlate with the figures used in detailed breakdowns that the agencies provide.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.
