Nevada’s COVID-19 metrics trend up over the weekend

Nevada on Monday reported 634 new coronavirus cases 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. The state no longer reports numbers over the weekend.

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

The two-week moving average of new cases increased to 149. The new report pushed the state’s case total to 329,509.

The state’s death total was listed at 5,646, a decrease of three from the last report on Friday. It was unclear why the number had dropped, or if the data had been reported incorrectly. The two-week moving average for daily deaths stayed at two.

The state’s two-week positivity rate, which essentially tracks the percentage of people tested for COVID-19 who are found to be infected, increased 0.1 percentage point to 3.7 percent, according to state data.

The data also showed 291 people with either confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 were hospitalized in the state, an increase of 25 from the last update on Friday.

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 552 new cases in Clark County for Friday through Sunday, bringing the local cumulative case total to 256,067. It also reported three deaths, bringing the number of deaths in the county to 4,464.

The county’s 14-day positivity rate increased to 3.8 percent.

County numbers are reflected in the statewide totals.

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