County: 114 new COVID-19 cases, 10 deaths

Hospitalization rate down a second day

Clark County recorded 114 new cases of COVID-19 and 10 additional deaths over the preceding day, according to data posted Wednesday.

The latest figures reported by the Southern Nevada Health District attributed to the disease caused by the new coronavirus pushed the county total to 5,650 cases and 314 deaths. The county estimates that 4,305 of those patients have recovered.

The agency reported five new hospitalizations since yesterday’s report.

After ticking higher earlier in the week, the hospitalization rate of those diagnosed with COVID-19 registered a second straight daily decline. The 21.03 percent rate reported Wednesday has been trending lower since peaking at 27.50 percent on April 10. Public health experts say it is a better indicator of the trend of the outbreak in the county than the fluctuating new cases figures, which typically rise when more testing is done.

While both case and death figures reported by the district were above the average of the preceding week, they were distributed over preceding days.

With cases, the district indicated it is adjusting the data to reflect when the onset of symptoms began in diagnosed patients and uses other criteria if that date is not known.

In the case of deaths, the district said it adjusted the data to reflect the date of the death, or the date it was reported to the agency if the former is unavailable.

Those adjustments result in a smoothing of the curve of new cases and deaths to better reflect the trend of the outbreak in the county, health district experts say.

As a result of such distribution, the district showed only two new cases from the preceding day as of early Wednesday and no new deaths.

Earlier, Nevada reported 120 new cases of COVID-19 and five additional deaths as the state’s infection rate continued to trend lower.

The new cases reported by the state Department of Health and Human Services on its nvhealthresponse.nv.gov website brought the total cases to 7,166. The cases were derived from tests on 91,171 people, producing an infection rate of 7.9 percent.

Reporting from local health districts and other county agencies placed the case number at 7,295. Such discrepancies are common because of differences in reporting cycles.

The agency also increased the reported deaths from the disease to 378.

The statewide infection rate has been trending lower since peaking at 12.66 percent on April 23. The state reported that results from 3,963 additional tests were reflected in Wednesday’s report.

In other developments Wednesday:

The state reported 16 new deaths from the disease at a Las Vegas nursing home, bringing the total in the 190-bed facility to 24.

The Heights of Summerlin also has reported 133 COVID-19 cases — 76 among residents and 57 among staff. Officials at the home blamed the apparent spike on reporting delays by the hospitals where all but one of the residents died and said they were doing everything possible to prevent further spread of the virus.

Washoe County authorities reported 10 new cases of COVID-19, raising the total cases in the state’s second-most-populous county to 1,305. The Regional Information Center reports that 700 of those patients have recovered.

Nye County reported two additional COVID-19 cases, bringing the county total to 59. Thirty-three of those patients have recovered, according to county officials.

Contact Mike Brunker at mbrunker@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4656. Follow @mike_brunker on Twitter.