Below is the full COVID-19 report for Oct. 28-Oct. 31.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Four-day totals from the holiday weekend show continued progress against COVID-19, with the test positivity rate dropping to 5.8% in Clark County — and 6.6% statewide — in data released today.
But the daily case rate in Clark County is still headed in the wrong direction coming out of the Nevada Day weekend, and hospitalizations have also increased. An additional 35 people are in the hospital with COVID-19 compared with numbers from the state’s last report on Thursday of last week.
More than 2,000 cases have been reported in Nevada since the state’s last report, including more than 1,500 in Clark County.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed the transmission status of Clark County in its report today, moving the county from “high” to “substantial” transmission:
“Everyone in Clark County, Nevada should wear a mask in public, indoor settings. Mask requirements might vary from place to place. Make sure you follow local laws, rules, regulations or guidance,” according to the CDC site.
Calculations vary, but the CDC currently lists the county with 7.3% test positivity, and a case rate of 92.73 (per 100,000 population over 7 days).
Numbers released today by Nevada’s Department of Health and Human Services include reports from Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
A look at current COVID-19 numbers:
CLARK COUNTY*
- New cases: 1,553 (total: 332,660)
- Deaths: 14 (total: 5,977)
- Test positivity rate: 5.8% (down from 6.0% last week)
* — Clark County’s dashboard updates even when the state does not update their dashboard on weekends. Changes shown here are compared to Thursday, the last time the state provided updates.
NEVADA
- New cases: 2,035 (total: 440,251)
- Deaths: 25 (total: 7,656)
- Test positivity rate: 6.6% (down from 6.8% last week)
The state is following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance on the mask rule. The mandate will remain in place in each county until the following conditions are met:
- The COVID-19 test positivity rate must be below 8%
- The case rate (per 100,000 population over 7 days) must be below 50 for two full weeks.
Test positivity in Clark County is at 5.8%. The current case rate for Clark County (per 100,000 over 7 days) is 111.0. The case rate began climbing early last week, when it was at 97.6.
Nevada’s test positivity rate is at 6.6%, down from 6.8% last week. It fell below 5.0%, the World Health Organization’s goal, on May 17 and climbed above it on June 28. Clark County’s rate is at 5.8%, down from 6.0% last week.
Of the 25 additional COVID-19-related deaths, 14 were from Clark County. Southern Nevada now accounts for 5,977 of the state’s 7,656 deaths. The 14-day rolling average is 9 deaths per day.
As of Oct. 28, the Southern Nevada Health District reports there are 183 breakthrough deaths, 566 breakthrough hospitalizations and 11,104 breakthrough cases.
As of yesterday, a total of 5,286,858 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Nevada, with an increase of 39,788 since Thursday. The number of tests reported has gone up as more employers require employees to be vaccinated or go through weekly testing.
*NOTE: Daily lab data from DHHS and SNHD reports is updated every morning for the previous day.
TRACKING NV COUNTIES
The test positivity rate in Clark County has dropped below 8%, which takes the county off the state’s watch list for elevated transmission risk. If the county can sustain levels for test positivity and testing, state restrictions — including mask requirements — could be relaxed. A separate measure of the county’s case rate — currently 111.0 cases per 100,000 population over the past seven days — needs to drop below 50 for two straight weeks before the mask mandate can end.
In today’s report, 12 of Nevada’s 17 counties are still flagged for high transmission.
Clark County’s case rate (444 per 100,000 over the past 30 days) is flagged in data reported today. Test positivity rate (5.8%) and testing (349 tests per day per 100,000) are within the state’s acceptable range.
VACCINATION UPDATE
The state’s health department reports 3,331,551 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Nevada, as of Oct. 31.
As of today, 56.35% of Nevadans currently eligible for the vaccine are fully vaccinated, and 64.98% of the eligible population has initiated vaccinations. Clark County reports that 55.62% of its eligible residents are fully vaccinated.
A BREAKDOWN OF NEVADA HOSPITALIZATIONS
NOTE: The state is not updating hospitalization data on weekends or holidays.
According to the state’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the number of hospitalized patients in Nevada was UP (+31) from the last report.
The current number of hospitalizations is 666 confirmed/suspected cases. Hospitals reported 170 of those patients were in intensive care units, and 104 were on ventilators. To give some perspective, the state set a record high for hospitalized patients on Dec. 13 with 2,025 cases.
RECOVERY CASES IN SOUTHERN NEVADA
The number of people who have recovered from the virus in Southern Nevada continues to increase. The latest county update estimates a total of 316,769 recovered cases; that’s 95.2% of all reported cases in the county, according to SNHD’s latest report.
The health district provides a daily map with the number of positive tests in each ZIP code in Clark County.
MITIGATION MEASURES IN NEVADA
Nevada reopened to 100% capacity on June 1 and social distancing guidelines lifted, helping the state return to mostly pre-pandemic times, with some exceptions.
The CDC reversed course on July 27, saying fully vaccinated Americans in areas with “substantial and high” transmission should wear masks indoors when in public as COVID-19 cases rise. Most of Nevada falls into those two risk categories.
Nevada said it would adopt the CDC’s guidance with the new mask guideline that went into effect at 12:01 a.m. on July 30. This overrides Clark County’s employee mask mandate, which went into effect in mid-July.
On Aug. 16, Gov. Sisolak signed a new directive that allows fully vaccinated attendees at large gatherings to remove their masks, but only if the venue chooses to require everyone in attendance to provide proof of vaccination. Those who have just one shot and are not “fully vaccinated” would still be allowed to attend, as would children under 12, but both would need to wear masks.
Masks still must be worn when required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules and regulations, including local businesses and workplace guidance.
SEE ALSO: Previous day’s report
