Southern Nevada State Veterans Home resident dies from virus

Total number in Nevada climbs to 14

Four more deaths have been reported in Clark County due to the coronavirus, according to the Southern Nevada Health District’s website.

The total number of deaths in the state as of Saturday morning was up to 14, according to the website. All the deaths occurred in Clark County, which has a total of 528 cases, that increased from 443 cases reported in the county on Friday.

Eighteen new coronavirus cases have been reported in Washoe County and two new cases in Nevada’s Quad County region of Carson City and Douglas, Lyon and Storey counties, health officials said Saturday. The two Quad County cases both involve people in their 30s.

There are 93 positive cases in Washoe County, according to a statement from the COVID-19 Regional Information Center. Two more people have recovered from the virus for a total of seven recoveries, the statement said.

Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam also has reported that the department learned Saturday that a detention facility deputy has tested positive for COVID-19, the statement said.

The deputy returned to work

Thursday after being off for a week, according to the health district statement. She reported experiencing a symptom of the virus, and was sent to an independent lab for testing and then home.

The sheriff ’s office is working with the Washoe County Health District, which is continuing to investigate the case, the statement said. Information about the people the deputy may have come into contact with is being provided to the health district.

The new cases are among 738 positive cases in Nevada, according to data reported by the state Health and Human Services Department and posted on the nvhealthresponse.nv.gov website Saturday. The total was derived from tests on 9,150 individuals. Eight percent of those tested were positive for the virus.

The two new Quad County region cases involve a woman in Carson City and a man in Douglas County. According to an email from Carson City Health and Human Services, both had a “recent travel history.”

That increased the area’s number of positive cases to 11, according to Carson City Health and Human Services. Those 11 people are all in “stable condition” and are self-isolating.

As of Saturday morning, 92 people, or about 18 percent of Clark County cases, required hospitalization, a figure that excludes cases that resulted in death. Of those hospitalized, about 23 percent were in intensive care units, with nearly 15 percent on ventilators to assist them with breathing, according to new information provided on the district’s website.

During a Friday morning telebriefing for reporters, the health district said it had only 119 test kits remaining with which to test people for the disease, and that it currently can test about 40 people per day. State and local officials have said they need more test kits.

But testing by private labs is also available, which includes testing for people with milder symptoms. Anecdotal evidence suggests that testing had been limited primarily to people with more severe symptoms or those who were part of disease-transmission investigations.

Coronavirus cases have been reported in Clark, Washoe, Elko, Douglas, Lyon and Nye counties, as well as in Carson City.

NIAID-RML This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows the Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.