Nevada reports 27 COVID-19 deaths along with 1,697 new cases

As state officials warn of an “exponential growth” in coronavirus cases, Nevada on Tuesday reported the highest daily increase in deaths in more than a month.

There were 27 new deaths reported on Tuesday, along with 1,697 additional cases, according to the Department of Health and Human Services’ coronavirus website. Nevada hasn’t reported 27 COVID-19 deaths in the state since Sept. 3, and the next highest daily increase was on Aug. 25, when 30 deaths were reported.

The updated data brought totals in the state to 123,794 cases and 1,944 deaths.

During a call with reporters on Monday, state health department Deputy Administrator Julia Peek said that Nevada is “in the stages of exponential growth from cases.”

A record high daily increase in cases was recorded on Saturday, when there were 2,269 additional cases reported. It was the first time during the pandemic that Nevada has reported more than 2,000 cases in a single day.

Nevada has recorded more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases in daily reports for 13 of the past 14 days, state data shows. The number of new cases and the state’s positivity rate has been increasing since mid-September.

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 positivity rate, which is calculated by the Review-Journal as the number of new cases divided by people tested throughout the pandemic, reached 13.87 percent on Tuesday.

The state health department calculates a positivity rate over a two-week period, and it reached 15.6 percent on Tuesday.

The department began reporting the statistic in mid-October, when it stood at less than 10 percent.

In Clark County, there was 1,217 new cases reported on Tuesday, along with 23 additional deaths, according to the Southern Nevada Health District’s coronavirus website.

The updated figures brought totals in the county to 97,608 cases and 1,641 deaths.

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