Clark County COVID-19 case numbers drop, but death rate stays flat

Clark County on Thursday reported 193 new coronavirus cases and saw another decline in most long-term metrics, but death numbers stayed at a higher level.

The county also reported 17 deaths, pushing totals posted by the Southern Nevada Health District to 488,588 cases and 7,538 deaths.

The two-week moving average of daily new cases dropped again, from 141 on Wednesday to 135. The two-week moving average of daily fatalities held at five.

Of the county’s other closely watched metrics, the 14-day test positivity rate declined 0.4 percentage point to 7.2 percent, while the number of people hospitalized with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 dropped to 279, from 287 on Wednesday. That number has been dropping quickly, and the Nevada Hospital Association said last week that hospitals across the state are reporting a “return to normalcy,” even as staffing still remains an issue.

Hospitalizations and deaths often follow other metrics during a surge, and county health officials have stressed that those numbers are expected to remain higher than the case rate and test positivity rate as the surge recedes.

Related: Tracking coronavirus in Nevada

The surge, driven by the omicron variant, had caused case rates to skyrocket in December and January before metrics started dropping quickly after the peak. That was in line with what health officials had expected, given data from around on the world on omicron’s usual effect. The quick drop in numbers led Gov. Steve Sisolak to rescind the statewide mask mandate in February, even though no Nevada county had reached the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria initially needed to do that.

Meanwhile, the state reported 342 new COVID-19 cases and 21 deaths, bringing totals posted by the state Department of Health and Human Services to 646,320 cases and 9,774 deaths.

New cases were well above the two-week moving average, which nonetheless declined from 207 on Wednesday to 195. The two-week moving average of daily deaths increased from six to seven, representing a rare increase as most metrics have declined quickly since the omicron-driven surge peaked in mid-January.

State and county health agencies often redistribute daily data after it is reported to better reflect the date of death or onset of symptoms, which is why the moving-average trend lines frequently differ from daily reports and are considered better indicators of the direction of the outbreak.

The state’s 14-day test positivity rate declined by 0.6 percentage point to 7.9 percent, while the number of people hospitalized with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 decreased by two to 336.

As of Thursday, state data showed that 56.63 percent of Nevadans five and older were fully vaccinated, compared with 56.00 percent in Clark County.

That number varies widely throughout the state. Carson City has the state’s highest vaccination rate, at 64.96 percent, while Storey County has the lowest, at 24.73 percent.

Contact Jonah Dylan at jdylan@reviewjournal.com. Follow @TheJonahDylan on Twitter.