Clark County tops 300K coronavirus cases

Clark County on Wednesday surpassed 300,000 coronavirus cases, a week after topping 5,000 COVID-19 deaths.

The 763 new cases and 18 deaths reported Wednesday by the Southern Nevada Health District pushed cumulative totals in the county to 300,358 cases and 5,108 deaths.

Separately, the state of Nevada reported 1,362 new coronavirus cases and 24 deaths, both well above the two-week moving averages for the metrics.

The updated totals posted by the state Department of Health and Human Services pushed the state total to 384,135 cases and 6,376 deaths.

New cases in the Silver State were nearly 70 percent higher than the two-week moving average, which held steady at 950.

Deaths were still more than double the moving two-week average, which remained at 12 fatalities per day. That number has improved in recent days after hitting a recent high of 17 on Aug. 10, according to state data.

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, which essentially tracks the percentage of people tested for COVID-19 who are found to be infected, held steady at 14.1, according to state data. That number is more than two percentage points below the rate’s recent high of 16.4 percent on Aug. 13

Data guide: COVID-19’s impact on Nevada

Clark County’s two-week test positivity rate, meanwhile, declined by 0.1 percentage point to 13.2 percent.

The state also reported that 1,282 people in Nevada were hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases, seven more than the day prior. The number of hospitalizations in the state had been climbing since mid-June before flattening over the past two weeks.

The Nevada Hospital Association said in its weekly report Wednesday that it’s concerned about hospital staffing throughout the state. The trade group also noted consistent increases in Northern Nevada hospitalizations, even as Southern Nevada has started to see a modest decline.

“Uniformly, hospitals and health departments are having challenges staffing all areas,” the update said. “Staffing shortages are no longer just in nursing; hospitals report shortages ranging from critical care nurses to dietary and EVS personnel. Public health agencies are reporting shortages in contact tracing and recruitment for other positions.”

Sixteen of the state’s 17 counties are now categorized as areas with a “high or substantial rate of transmission,” according to the Centers for Disease and Control. Only one county in the state, Eureka County, currently has a “low” rate of transmission.

As of Wednesday’s report, 50.81 percent of Nevadans age 12 and older had been fully vaccinated. Overall vaccination numbers have increased in the past month or so. Thursday will mark the final drawing of the Vax Nevada Days Raffle, a vaccination incentive begun in mid-June that will give away a total of $5 million in prizes to vaccinated residents.

The updated data showed that Clark County had surpassed the 50.0 percent vaccination rate for residents 12 and older who are fully vaccinated, according to state data. The state passed the milestone last week.

Carson City is the state leader, with a rate of 60.72 percent of those eligible fully vaccinated, followed by Washoe County at 59.98 percent and Douglas County at 53.02 percent.

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