Clark County adds 787 COVID-19 cases, reports 4 more deaths

Clark County recorded 787 new cases of COVID-19 and four additional deaths over the preceding day, according to data posted Wednesday by the Southern Nevada Health District.

The health district posted the new figures on its coronavirus website, pushing total cases for the county to 25,611 and raising the death toll to 502.

The district estimates that 17,498 of the patients who contracted the disease caused by the new coronavirus have recovered from the illness based on an algorithm that calculates the figure based on the onset of symptoms and the typical two-week duration of the disease.

New cases were well below the one-day record of 1,021 new cases announced on Tuesday but above the daily average of just over 620 for the preceding week.

Fatalities were below the daily average of just under seven for the period.

The health district also reported 46 new hospitalizations for COVID-19, the biggest one-day increase announced since the outbreak arrived in Southern Nevada in early March. That figure was well above the daily average of just over 28 hospitalizations over the preceding week.

The Nevada Hospital Association reported Tuesday that the state had surpassed 1,000 hospitalized COVID-19 patients on Monday, with 1,057 patients occupying beds.

It said hospitals in Southern Nevada were still operating below capacity, with 82 percent of hospital beds and 89 percent of intensive care unit beds occupied. It said ventilator use was at 47 percent of capacity for the region.

Meanwhile, the state of Nevada on Wednesday reported 849 new cases of COVID-19 and six additional deaths over the preceding day.

The state Department of Health and Human Services posted the new cases and fatalities, which pushed the state case total to 30,468 and the death toll to 618, on its nvhealthresponse.nv.gov website. (Reports from local health districts and counties place the case total somewhat higher, at 30,564 as of late Wednesday.)

The number of new cases was down from the 1,104 reported on Tuesday, the second highest daily announced total of the outbreak.

New cases were slightly above the daily average of over 833 over the preceding week, while the fatalities were under the daily average of just over nine for the period.

The state infection rate, considered a better barometer of the trend of the outbreak in Nevada than reports of new cases and deaths, continued to inch higher, to 8.39 percent.

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The rate, the number of confirmed cases divided by the number of people tested, fell steadily over more than two months before bottoming out at 5.20 percent on July 17 before beginning to climb. Since then it has increased on 27 of 28 days, capped by its seventh straight gain in Wednesday’s report.

Many people who contract COVID-19 suffer mild to moderate symptoms, and some experience no symptoms at all. Most patients make a full recovery within about two weeks of the onset of symptoms.

The disease is most dangerous to the elderly and people with other underlying health issues.

The fatality rate in Nevada among those with confirmed COVID-19 cases is approximately 2 percent.

A previous version of this article incorrectly reported the state infection rate.

Contact Mike Brunker at mbrunker@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4656. Follow @mike_brunker on Twitter.