Nevada reports 800 new coronavirus cases, 8 deaths over 3 days

Nevada on Monday reported 800 new coronavirus cases and eight deaths over the preceding three days.

The state Department of Health and Human Services posted the updated data covering Friday through Sunday on the state’s coronavirus website. It was the fourth weekend since the state stopped reporting COVID-19 metrics over the weekend.

Public health officials have said the reports on Monday and possibly Tuesday will be inflated as a result of the delayed reporting.

A daily breakdown of new cases indicated that all three days remained above the two-week moving average of daily cases, which declined from 244 on Friday to 233 in Monday’s report.

The new report pushed the state’s case total to 318,780.

Additional deaths from COVID-19, however, were just below the two-week moving average of three deaths per day when spread over three days. The latest fatalities brought the state’s death toll to 5,506, while the two-week moving average remained unchanged at three.

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 0.1 percentage point to 5.5 percent, according to state data.

The rate has been inching lower since its most recent crest to 5.9 percent on April 17, the data show.

The data also showed 317 people with either confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 were hospitalized in the state, a slight decrease from the last report on Friday.

Clark County increased to 80 percent capacity limit on May 1 and changed the social distancing protocols from six feet to three feet. State officials have said they expect to see cases increase after restrictions are relaxed.

State and county health agencies often 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.

Meanwhile, the Southern Nevada Health District reported 705 new cases for the same period, bringing the local cumulative case total to 246,811. Clark County also reported nine deaths, one more than the state total, bringing the number of deaths to 4,339.

The reason for the discrepancy could not immediately be explained.

The 14-day positivity rate remained unchanged at 5.7 percent.

County numbers are reflected in the statewide totals.

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