Nevada reports 265 new COVID cases, lowest daily increase in 2 months

Nevada on Tuesday reported the lowest single-day increase in new coronavirus cases in nearly two months.

There were 265 new cases reported on Tuesday, which is the lowest increase since 181 cases were recorded on April 5, according to records maintained by the Review-Journal, although the state no longer reports daily updates over the weekend.

There were also four additional deaths recorded on Tuesday, according to updated figures posted to the Department of Health and Human Services’ coronavirus website.

Totals in Nevada rose to 323,022 cases and 5,563 deaths, according to state data.

All of the deaths reported on Tuesday occurred in Clark County, according to data from the Southern Nevada Health District.

The new cases reported on Tuesday were well above the moving 14-day average of daily reported cases, which dropped to 151. Fatalities were also higher than the average of two daily reported deaths over the same time period.

State officials have said that it is normal for daily figures to be higher than the moving averages due to delayed reports and redistributed data. State and county health agencies redistribute the 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 two-week positivity rate, which essentially tracks the percentage of people tested for COVID-19 who are found to be infected, dropped by 0.2 percentage points, reaching 4.4 percent.

The rate has been slowly decreasing since its most recent spike of 5.9 percent on April 17, according to state data.

As of Tuesday’s report, there are 274 people in Nevada hospitalized with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases, which is 17 more than the day prior.

Clark County on Tuesday reported 217 new coronavirus cases, according to the county health district’s coronavirus website.

Cumulative totals in the county rose to 250,386 cases and 4,387 deaths.

Clark County’s two-week positivity rate also decreased by 0.1 percentage points, matching the state average at 4.4 percent.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.