Clark County records 161 new COVID-19 cases, 6 more deaths

Clark County recorded 161 new COVID-19 cases and six additional deaths over the preceding day, according to data posted Wednesday by the Southern Nevada Health District.

The new cases announced by the district raised the total for the county to 9,318 and the fatalities pushed the death toll to 386.

New cases were below the daily average of just over 200 for the preceding week. That figure rose significantly after the district reported 342 new cases on Tuesday, the highest one-day increase since the pandemic reached Nevada in early March. The district estimates that 6,965 of those patients have recovered.

The fatalities were well above the daily average of a little over two over the period.

The district also reported 13 new hospitalizations, excluding deaths, over the preceding day — slightly higher than the daily average of just under 11 over the preceding week.

The Nevada Hospital Association reported on Monday that the number of currently hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the state remains in the “plateau range” — between 340 and 372. That figure has been trending downward since April 1, the association said.

“COVID-19 is not creating a significant impact in hospital capacity or capability,” it said in a news release breaking down the latest data. “Patients with confirmed COVID-19 represent less than 5 percent of the hospitalized patients within the Nevada health care system.”

The health district often reapportions cases after they are reported to better reflect when they occurred, so the totals announced daily often vary from the detailed breakdown it provides.

Meanwhile, the state Department of Health and Human Services reported 184 new cases of COVID-19 and six additional deaths. The total death toll was 473 as of Wednesday.

Individual counties across Nevadahave reported a total of 11,856 cases since the state’s outbreak began in March.

The state data showed a decline in the state’s infection rate to 5.20 percent. That rate — the number of confirmed cases divided by the total number of people tested — had been declining steadily before recording several one-day upticks beginning last week. The current figure is the lowest it’s been since the state began tracking the data early on in the outbreak.

Contact Mike Brunker at mbrunker@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4656. Follow @mike_brunker on Twitter.