Nevada records 117 virus deaths in pandemic’s deadliest week
Nevada saw its deadliest week of the COVID-19 pandemic yet.
State health officials reported 29 deaths Saturday, bringing the state’s seven-day toll to 117. The previous most-deadly week occurred at the end of July, when 76 deaths were reported. The total death toll throughout the state climbed to 949.
It was the second time that Nevada reported 29 COVID-19 deaths in one day. The state first reported that highest one-day total on July 31.
Officials reported an additional 886 coronavirus cases on Saturday, bringing the statewide total to 55,419. The state’s infection rate is calculated at 10.8 percent, matching the state’s highest-ever rate, which was recorded on Wednesday after a brief decrease.
The Southern Nevada Health district reported a total of 47,739 confirmed cases in the county on Saturday, an increase of 749. In the past seven days 5,351 cases were reported, according to county data.
The average seven-day case rate has fallen to 257 cases per day, showing a significant decrease since last week when the average was 552 cases per day Aug. 1, the district’s data shows.
The state reported the death total in Clark County at 799, including the 29 new deaths. That figure tops the average seven-day death toll of 8.9 people per day in the county.
The seven-day hospitalization average was also at 8.9 people per day. There were 3,157 hospitalizations reported Saturday morning by the district.
Both the health district and the state redistribute cases and deaths after they are announced to better reflect the trajectory of the outbreak, so the figures announced daily generally don’t match the revised data breakdowns they publish.
The Washoe County Health District reported an increase of 41 new cases Saturday, bringing the total in the county to 5,756. No new deaths had been recorded since Thursday, when the total reached 118.
The greatest number of deaths per 100,000 residents remained above 18 percent in three counties, including Washoe, Clark and Humboldt County.
Among the 17,000 residents of Humboldt County, 102 had tested positive, and four had died, adding up to a death rate of 23.4. Clark and Washoe counties reported a death rate of 34.5 and 24.7 respectively.
Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writer Max Michor contributed to this report.