Clark County adds 576 new COVID-19 cases, a dozen deaths
Clark County recorded 576 new cases of COVID-19 and a dozen additional deaths over the preceding day, according to data published Thursday by the Southern Nevada Health District.
The new cases pushed the county total to 16,180, while the fatalities increased the death toll to 432.
New cases were slightly below the daily average of just over 589 for the preceding week, while the deaths were well above the daily average of just under three for the period. Case totals on two days in the period were inflated by reporting delays, the district has said.
It was the fifth time in the last six days that the health district has reported at least 500 new cases of the disease caused by the new coronavirus in its daily reports.
Meanwhile, the health district also reported 26 new hospitalizations in Clark County over the preceding 24 hours. That was well above the daily average of just over 16 for the preceding week.
The Nevada Hospital Association said in an update posted Wednesday that “Nevada continues to experience a resurgence wave resulting in incremental increases in hospitalizations.”
The update indicated that Southern Nevada is not yet near capacity, with 79 percent of available beds and 82 percent of available beds in intensive care units occupied.
Meanwhile, the state Department of Health and Human Services reported 632 new COVID-19 cases and 14 additional deaths.
The data posted on the agency’s nvhealthresponse.nv.gov website raised the case total for Nevada to 19,733 and the death toll to 525. Reports from health districts and counties place the case total somewhat higher, at 19,867, as of late Friday.
New cases were slightly below the daily average of nearly 686 over the preceding week, which also included two days with data issues caused by reporting delays, while the new fatalities were well above the daily average of just under 2½.
The state infection rate, considered a better indicator of the trend of the outbreak in the state than new cases or deaths, rose for the 15th day in a row.
The rate — the number of confirmed cases divided by people tested — declined for several months before bottoming out at 5.20 percent on June 17. As of Thursday’s report, it stood at 6.98 percent.
Contact Mike Brunker at mbrunker@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4656. Follow @mike_brunker on Twitter.