898 more virus cases, 33 deaths

Nevada on Saturday reported 898 new coronavirus cases and 33 additional deaths, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

The updated figures posted to the state’s coronavirus website brought cumulative totals to 283,391 cases and 4,496 deaths. Saturday was the seventh straight day that fewer than 1,000 new cases have been reported, according to records kept by the Review-Journal.

The new cases were higher than the moving 14-day average of daily recorded cases, which dropped to 776 on Saturday.

The state’s positivity rate, which essentially tracks the percentage of people tested who are found to have the disease, also has been decreasing. The 14-day moving daily average has dropped from a recent high of 21.7 percent on Jan. 13 to 16 percent on Saturday, a 0.3-percentage-point decrease from the previous day.

The new deaths reported on Saturday continued to be well above the moving 14-day average of daily recorded deaths, which remained at 17. Deaths from COVID-19 typically occur five or more weeks after the onset of symptoms, so state officials have said they expect the moving average to trend lower in the weeks ahead.

After January set records for highest number of deaths recorded in a single week, the first week of February had the fifth-highest number of fatalities recorded since the pandemic began, according to records maintained by the Review-Journal. There have been 232 deaths reported from Jan. 31 to Saturday.

There were 983 people in Nevada hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases, which is 89 fewer than the previous day, state data shows. Data can fluctuate day by day, but state officials have reported that hospitalization totals have decreased in recent weeks, especially in the northern region of the state.

Clark County on Saturday recorded 657 new cases and 23 additional deaths, according to the Southern Nevada Health District’s coronavirus website. Cumulative totals for the county rose to 218,178 cases and 3,453 deaths.

Bizuayehu Tesfaye Las Vegas Review-Journal @bizutesfaye Sym Ciccone, right, a contact tracer from the Southern Nevada Health District, leads a woman into the Las Vegas Convention Center’s vaccine distribution area on Friday.