Clark County records 509 new COVID-19 cases, 4 additional deaths
Clark County recorded 509 new COVID-19 cases and four additional deaths over the preceding day, according to data posted by the Southern Nevada Health District on Wednesday.
The new cases published on the health district’s coronavirus website pushed the county total to 15,604, while the fatalities increased the death toll to 420. The district estimates that 9,692 of those who contracted the disease have recovered.
New cases were below the daily average of nearly 559 for the preceding week, while the deaths were above the daily average of two for the period.
However, Wednesday’s report provided additional evidence of the recent surge in infections by the new coronavirus in the county, marking the fourth time in the last five days the county has seen a daily increase of at least 500 cases. The totals on two of those days were inflated by delayed reports from testing labs, the district has said.
The health district also reported 36 additional hospitalizations over the preceding 24 hours, well above the daily average of nearly 15 over the past week.
The Nevada Hospital Association said in an update Tuesday that hospitalizations have been rising by an average of 19 patients per day over the two weeks ending Monday, with most of those occurring in Southern Nevada.
Hospitals in Southern Nevada remain below capacity, with 78 percent of all beds occupied, the report said. But intensive care beds have seen an increased occupancy rate, hitting 82 percent as of Monday.
In another development, the health district reported two more confirmed cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) in Clark County. The rare syndrome, confirmed for the first time in the county on June 12, has appeared in children who were infected with the coronavirus or had contact with an infected person.
The health district said both the latest patients tested positive for COVID-19 and required hospitalization but have been discharged and are recovering.
Interactive: Data guide to the coronavirus outbreak in Nevada
Meanwhile, the state Department of Health and Human Services reported 645 new cases and four additional deaths.
The figures posted on the agency’s nvhealthresponse.nv.gov increased the total cases for Nevada to 19,101, and the fatalities brought the death toll to 511. Reports from local health districts and county agencies place the case total higher, at 19,154 as of Wednesday night.
New cases nearly matched the daily average of just over 645 over the preceding week, while the fatalities were above the daily average of just over two for the period.
The state infection rate, considered a better indicator of the direction of the outbreak in the state than new cases or deaths, registered its 14th-straight increase to reach 6.75 percent. The rate — confirmed cases divided by the total number of people tested — declined steadily for several months before bottoming out at 5.20 percent on June 17 and beginning to climb again.
COVID-19 testing has become much more widely available in the state since late May, with more than 8,000 tests reported on both Tuesday and Wednesday.
Some believe that may be contributing to the recent surge in new infections, but state public health experts are focused on reducing the number of people visiting indoor public venues and not heeding guidelines on social distancing and face coverings.
Contact Mike Brunker at mbrunker@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4656. Follow @mike_brunker on Twitter.