Clark County tops 5K COVID-19 deaths as state metrics improve a bit

Clark County on Wednesday surpassed 5,000 COVID-19 deaths amid new signs that the state’s current coronavirus surge may be nearing its peak.

The Southern Nevada Health District marked the grim milestone in a news release shortly after reporting 1,089 new COVID-19 cases and 17 additional deaths during the preceding day.

The update pushed cumulative totals in the county to 295,104 cases and 5,005 deaths.

“This is a tragedy for everyone who has lost a loved one, family member and friend, and I offer my condolences to all those who have been impacted by the pandemic,” Dr. Fermin Leguen, health officer for the health district, said in a statement.

Separately, the state of Nevada reported 1,429 new coronavirus cases and 25 deaths, bringing the updated totals posted by the state Department of Health and Human Services to 376,080 cases and 6,248 deaths.

New cases were higher than the two-week moving average, which dropped from 931 on Tuesday to 930 Wednesday. But the average has now declined by nearly 16 percent since reaching a recent high of 1,106 on Aug. 8.

Deaths were still more than double the moving two-week average, which held at 11 fatalities per day. That number also has shown improvement in recent days after hitting a recent high of 17 on Aug. 10, according to state data.

Data guide: COVID-19’s impact on Nevada

State and county health agencies often redistribute the daily data after it is reported to better reflect the date of death or a test 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.

The state’s two-week positivity rate also showed improvement in the daily update.

The rate, which essentially tracks the percentage of people tested for COVID-19 who are found to be infected, dropped sharply from 16.1 percent on Tuesday to 15.6 percent, according to state data. That number is now almost a full percentage point below the rate’s recent high of 16.4 percent on Friday.

Clark County’s two-week test positivity rate also registered a steep decline, falling by 0.8 percentage point to 15.3 percent.

Unlike deaths, the positivity rate is a leading indicator that is closely watched for clues about where the state’s outbreak is headed.

The downturn in the rate began just over two weeks after Gov. Steve Sisolak imposed a new mask mandate for crowded public indoor spaces in areas with high risk of COVID-19 transmission on July 27, suggesting that the coverings and the growing number of vaccinated Nevadans may be playing a role.

But the decreases have not been even across the state, with improvements in Southern Nevada being partly offset by rising numbers to the north. That prompted an announcement Tuesday that Pershing and Humboldt counties have now reached a “high rate of transmission” and will be covered by Sisolak’s mask mandate starting Friday.

That means that residents of 14 of the state’s 17 counties will be required to wear masks in crowded indoor public settings.

The state also reported that 1,217 people in Nevada were hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases, 47 less than the day prior. The number of hospitalizations in the state had been climbing since mid-June before flattening and declining slightly over the past week.

As of Wednesday’s report, 49.66 percent of Nevadans age 12 and older had been fully vaccinated.

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