105 new COVID-19 cases, 1 death reported in Clark County

Clark County reported 105 new cases of COVID-19 and one additional death over the preceding day, according to data posted Friday by the Southern Nevada Health District.

The new cases reported on the health district’s coronavirus web page pushed the total for the county to 6,457 and the fatality increased the death toll to 340.

New cases were above the daily average of just under 83 over the preceding week. The health district estimates that 5,117 of those patients have recovered.

The single fatality was below the daily average of just under three over the period.

New cases and deaths are often redistributed after the district announces them to better reflect the dates they occurred, so the totals announced daily often do not match the district’s reconfigured data.

The county hospitalization rate, considered a better indicator of the trend of the outbreak, registered its eighth straight daily decline, dipping to 19.28 percent of those who tested positive for the disease, excluding deaths. That rate has been steadily trending lower since peaking at 27.50 percent on April 10.

Wider testing of individuals with mild or no symptoms is expected to continue to drive that figure lower assuming that the reopening of businesses doesn’t ignite a second wave of the disease.

Meanwhile, the state Department of Health and Human Services reported 142 new COVID-19 cases and five additional deaths over the preceding day.

The new cases raised the total reported by the state to 8,350 and were slightly above the daily average of just over 136 cases over the preceding week. Reports from local health districts and other county agencies placed the figure slightly higher, at 8,376 as of Friday evening.

The fatalities raised the state death toll to 415 and were also slightly above the daily average of just over four deaths over the period.

Nevada’s infection rate — the number of people diagnosed with the disease divided by the total people tested — continued its steady decline to reach 6.21 percent.

Public health experts say that, like the county hospitalization rate, the infection rate is a better indicator of the trend of the outbreak in the state. The rate peaked on April 23 at 12.66 percent.

In other developments Friday:

— Public health authorities in Washoe County reported 17 new COVID-19 cases and four additional deaths. The cases raised the total reported in the county to 1,531, 856 of whom have recovered, according to the county’s Regional Information Center. The deaths — those of three women in their 80s, all of whom had underlying health conditions, and a man in his 60s — raised the toll in the county to 59.

— Authorities in Nye County reported one additional COVID-19 cases in a Pahrump resident, bringing the total cases in the county to 62.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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