LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — COVID-19 is the leading cause of death in Nevada for the month of December, state health leaders said Tuesday.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 3,000 people in Nevada have died from coronavirus. To date, there have been 697 deaths due to COVID-19 in December, health officials noted.
New cases in Nevada are rising at a rate similar to before Thanksgiving, state biostatistician Kyra Morgan said. Nearly 20% of COVID-19 tests are coming back positive, according to the two-week test positivity trend.
Nevada’s test positivity rate remained the second-highest in the country as of last week, according to a document obtained by the Center for Public Integrity from the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
It is too early to say whether Nevada has hit a peak in cases and deaths, Morgan said, because testing over the Christmas holiday and days before and after the holiday was limited. Fewer than 900 new COVID-19 cases were recorded Monday compared to the daily average of between 2,000 and 3,000.
While COVID-19 cases remain high, flu activity is unusually low this year in Southern Nevada.
The latest report by SNHD shows zero deaths and only five flu cases and hospitalizations so far this season, which began in late September. This is substantially lower compared to a year ago, when data revealed more than 460 cases and hospitalizations, as well as 10 deaths.
