State records 414 new virus cases

Positivity rate drops second day in a row

Nevada reported 414 new cases of the coronavirus and 10 deaths on Saturday, one day after the state’s positivity rate registered its biggest decline in nearly three months, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Updated data from the state health department brought the totals to the state to 73,220 cases and 1,449 fatalities, 10 more than the number of deaths reported as of Friday.

The state also saw a decline in its positivity rate for the second day in a row.

On Saturday, the state’s cumulative infection or positivity rate, considered a better indicator of the trend of the outbreak than daily case and death numbers, declined by 0.02 percent to 11.49 percent.

The rate, calculated by the Review-Journal as confirmed cases divided by the number of people tested in the state, topped out at 12.20 percent on April 25 during the first surge of COVID-19 cases, then steadily declined to 5.20 percent on June 17, when it started to rise again.

It climbed steadily again before flattening out in late August and now has started to inch lower again.

Meanwhile, the Southern Nevada Health District reported 345 more cases of the virus in Clark County and 15 additional deaths.

Data posted on the district’s coronavirus webpage raised the county case total to 62,402, and the fatalities raised the death toll to 1,259.

The Clark County data is generally reflected in the state reporting, but discrepancies can be caused by reporting issues or differences in reporting cycles.