Nevada reports 1,107 new coronavirus cases, 18 more deaths

A day after Gov. Steve Sisolak implored Nevadans to stay home for two weeks to contain the recent coronavirus spike, the state again reported more than 1,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday.

The state has seen more than 1,000 new cases in its daily report in six out of the past seven days, with a record high of 1,824 cases reported on Saturday, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services. There were 1,107 new cases reported Wednesday, along with 18 additional deaths.

Totals for the state on Wednesday rose to 113,411 cases and 1,877 deaths, according to the department’s coronavirus website.

The number of new cases has been rising since mid-August, along with the state’s positivity rate, which is calculated by the Las Vegas Review-Journal as the number of total cases divided by total people tested. The rate increased by 0.06 percentage points on Wednesday, reaching 13.2 percent, state data shows.

The number of deaths in the state did not increase at the same time, but death totals tend to lag a month or more behind new cases. However, the first week of November saw a dramatic increase from the previous week, with 73 total deaths — the most since 79 deaths were reported the week of Sept. 13 to Sept. 19.

Both county and state health districts redistribute data on new cases and total fatalities after their daily reports in an attempt to show when someone died or started showing symptoms, as some cases come from delayed reporting.

The health department calculates a positivity rate over a two-week period, and it reached 13.8 percent on Wednesday, a 0.1 percentage point increase from the previous day. The department began reporting the rate in mid-October, when it stood at less than 10 percent.

The rate is calculated using total “testing encounters,” which usually produces lower percentages than the Review-Journal’s cumulative rate because the figure includes people who received multiple tests at different points during the pandemic.

The Nevada Hospital Association on Monday said in a statement that current coronavirus hospitalization counts are the highest in the sate since mid-August, “effectively erasing the progress made over the past three months.”

In a joint-statement released Wednesday, hospitals in Southern Nevada said they are prepared and have “the available capacity” to handle an influx of cases.

Southern Nevada hospitals currently have more available capacity than this time last year, according to the statement from Dignity Health, North Vista Hospital, Sunrise Health, University Medical Center and The Valley Health System.

In Clark County, there was 760 additional cases reported on Wednesday, along with 14 additional deaths, according to the Southern Nevada Health District’s coronavirus website.

The updated figures brought totals in the county to 90,885 cases and 1,590 deaths.

During a news conference Tuesday evening, Sisolak urged Nevadans to help slow the surging outbreak by staying home as much as possible for two weeks. He did not impose deeper restrictions on businesses or tourist attractions, and he declined to predict what restrictions may expand if the trends don’t improve.

“The fall spike predicted by all medical and scientific experts is now our reality,” Sisolak said. “Nevadans need to accept and understand this reality now and change behaviors immediately. In the next two weeks, we must see a significant reversal of the current trends which are deeply concerning now.”

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.