Virus data trends lower with 320 new cases, 3 deaths

Nevada recorded 320 new cases of COVID-19 and added three deaths from the disease over the preceding day, according to state data published Monday.

An update on the Department of Health and Human Services’ nvhealthresponse.nv.gov website increased the case total for Nevada to 69,228 and raised the death toll to 1,305. Reports from local health districts and counties place the case total slightly higher, at 69,301 as of Monday night.

Both new cases and new fatalities reported by the state were were well below the daily averages of the preceding week of just over 472 and 15, respectively. The latter averages were themselves well below the daily averages of the previous week of nearly 614 new cases and just over

18 deaths.

Hospitalizations of confirmed and suspected COVID-19 cases increased by four, to 664, in the latest report. But that figure is just over 500 cases below the high of 1,165 hospitalized patients recorded on July 31.

The state’s cumulative infection or positivity rate — confirmed cases divided by the number of people tested — has so far defied the downward trends seen in the other metrics,

inching 0.01 percent higher to 11.59 percent in Monday’s report.

The rate, considered a better indicator of the trend of the outbreak than the daily new cases or deaths figures, has been rising steadily since it bottomed out at 5.20 percent on June 17, though the growth rate has slowed recently.

As authorities in Clark County were launching a “blitz” of COVID-19 testing, the state reported that 4,250 tests for the disease caused by the new coronavirus were conducted over the preceding day, well below the daily average of slightly more than 5,945 over the preceding week.

The Southern Nevada Health District, meanwhile, reported 266 new COVID-19 cases and one additional death in Clark County over the preceding day.

New figures posted to the district’s coronavirus web page pushed the case total for the county to 59,420 and raised the death toll to 1,126.

New cases also were well below the daily average of just over 401 for the preceding week, while the fatalities were far below the daily average of 14 for the period.