Nevada adds 1,673 COVID cases, more deaths over weekend

Nevada on Monday reported 1,673 new coronavirus cases and 10 deaths over the preceding three days as the state’s new case count and positivity rate continued to climb.

The number of new cases was the highest three-day total since the state halted weekend reporting of COVID-19 data in mid-April.

Data posted by the state Department of Health and Human Services on the state’s coronavirus website for Friday through Sunday showed the two-week moving average of new COVID-19 cases increasing to 461 per day. a jump of 67 from the 394 cases a day reported on Friday. The state’s case total, meanwhile, rose to 339,745.

The fatalities increased to state death toll to 5,730. The reported deaths also exceeded the two-week moving average of two per day when spread over three days.

The state no longer reports numbers over the weekend and public health officials have said that reporting on Monday and sometimes Tuesday can be inflated as a result of the delayed reporting.

Even so, the increase reported Monday represented the largest jump following a normal weekend since the state discontinued weekend reporting, eclipsing the 915 recorded on June 28. The state reported 1,346 new cases on Tuesday, but that covered four days because of the delayed celebration of the Fourth of July holiday on the following Monday.

The two-week moving average of new cases has been climbing since it reached a low of 132 on June 5 — a 249 percent increase through Monday’s report.

Data guide: COVID-19’s impact on Nevada

Much of that growth has occurred in Clark County, and public health experts say it is being largely driven by the more-contagious delta coronavirus variant.

Just over a month after reaching a recent low of 3.3 percent on June 9, the state’s two-week positivity rate, which essentially tracks the percentage of people tested for COVID-19 who are found to be infected, increased by 0.8 percentage points in Monday’s update to 9.5 percent, according to state data.

State and county health agencies also 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.

Hospitalizations of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients also has been rising in recent weeks. Monday’s data showed 690 people with either confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 were hospitalized in the state, an increase of 50 from the last update on Friday and more than triple the recent low of 209 reported on June 12.

Meanwhile, the Southern Nevada Health District reported 1,547 new cases in Clark County for Friday through Sunday, bringing the local cumulative case total to 265,462. It also reported eight of the state’s deaths, bringing the number of deaths in the county to 4,538.

The county’s 14-day positivity rate also climbed to 10.7 percent, a level last seen in the county on Feb. 19.

County numbers are reflected in the statewide totals.

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