No ‘elevated risk’ counties
State on downward transmission trend
For the first time in six months, none of Nevada’s 17 counties have an elevated risk of COVID-19 transmission.
The elevated risk classification is based on counties failing to meet at least two of three criteria for case rates and testing, and as of Friday no county was flagged as missing the target in more than one category.
Gov. Steve Sisolak celebrated the milestone in a post on Twitter.
“Let’s keep up the good work by wearing masks & getting a vaccine when it’s our turn,” he said.
Caleb Cage, the state’s COVID-19 response director, said during a virtual briefing with reporters that the removal of the elevated risk classifications means the downward trend in disease
metrics is happening across the state.
“That’s important because it shows the trajectory of declining cases that we’ve experienced here in the last few months is a statewide trajectory and one that is not having specific outbreaks in certain communities throughout the state,” he said.
Nevadans should nonetheless “remain vigilant,” Cage said, and not relax safety measures.
“It is good news, but it is not news that says the pandemic is over,” he said. “It is one that says the current trajectory that we’ve experienced at least over the last 14 days remain positive.”
Dr. Mark Riddle, a professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, said at the news conference that the change in the transmission risks could be due to more vaccinations or people taking safety measures more seriously after the winter spike.
“It’s a cautious thing,” said Riddle, who is the associate dean of clinical research at the university, “because we don’t know, and it could go right back up. And so all of these things that we’re doing right now with vaccines and with continued personal protection need to be sustained until we do have the majority of people that are protected from infection.”
Reporting issues affect data
The improvement came on a day when the state reported its biggest one-day increase in new COVID-19 cases in more than a month.
But public health officials in Clark County said at least some of those cases were added as a result of “delayed electronic reporting.” Additional delayed reports from Carson City Health and Human Services have affected recent increased case counts, state officials said.
“We do believe that these reports are likely to be anomalies, based off of reporting and numbers of tests that have come in, and that we are continuing to see a lower-than-leveling trend in number of cases,” Cage said.
Updated data from the Department of Health and Human Services posted on the state’s coronavirus website showed 858 new cases, the biggest single-day increase since 898 new cases were reported on Feb. 6.
That came on the heels of the
618 new cases reported Thursday, which was the largest one-day total since 813 new cases were recorded on Feb. 13, according to records maintained by the Review-journal.
Nevada on Friday also reported 17 additional deaths. All of the deaths occurred in Clark County, according to data posted to the Southern Nevada Health District’s coronavirus website.
Cumulative totals in the state rose to 298,623 cases and 5,097 deaths.
New cases reported Friday were well above the moving 14-day average of daily reported cases, which dropped to 231. Deaths were also well above the two-week average of five daily recorded fatalities.
Decline in major metrics continues
Despite the recent above-average daily reports, all major disease metrics have been declining in the state since mid-january or earlier, health officials have said.
State and county health agencies often redistribute data after it is reported to better reflect the date of death or onset of symptoms, which is why the moving-average trend lines frequently differ from daily reports and are considered better indicators of the direction of the outbreak.
The state’s two-week positivity rate, which essentially tracks the percentage of people tested for COVID-19 who are confirmed to be infected, dropped by 0.2 percentage point to 5.8 percent.
There were 323 people in Nevada hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases as of Friday’s report, 24 fewer than the day prior.
Clark County on Friday reported 802 new cases, according to the county health district. Cumulative totals rose to 230,758 cases and 3,988 deaths.
The county’s 14-day positivity rate dropped to 6.2 percent on Friday, a 0.2-percentage-point decrease from the day prior.