LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Nevada is reporting 56 new COVID-19-related deaths as its test positivity rate nears 21 percent, according to data released on Saturday.
The 56 deaths are the third-highest since the pandemic began, and comes three days after a record 60 deaths were reported on Wednesday. In the past four days, 215 deaths have been reported.
Nevada’s 14-day rolling average is now 20 deaths per day.
Nevada is reporting 2,648 daily COVID-19 cases, with 2,064 from Clark County. Nevada’s total cases are now at 246,309. Clark County has a total of 187,893.
The state’s positivity rate is climbing again, putting it at 20.8 percent.
More than 1,000 coronavirus cases have been reported in Nevada in 65 of the past 67 days.
There were 12,338 tests performed in the last day, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
For the 12th week in a row, Clark County was flagged for elevated disease transmission. Clark County remains in the red on Nevada Health Response’s “county criteria tracker.” The county was flagged for elevated disease transmission after meeting the criteria of high case rates and high test positivity. Clark is one of 16 counties flagged in the tracker, updated daily on the DHHS Dashboard.
Clark County has a case rate of 2,057 per 100,000, and a test positivity of 21.5 percent.
VACCINATION UPDATE
As of Jan. 8, 44,656 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered, according to the CDC.
The CDC’s vaccination data shows that Nevada has received more than 187,000 vaccine doses.
“Nevada counties are vaccinating individuals in Tier 1 and some counties may be moving into Tier 2 soon. As this effort continues, counties may move throughout the Tiers at different paces, based on factors such as population size and vaccine demand within the Tier groups. Nevada’s plan was developed to accommodate these differences,” a spokesperson for the Nevada DHHS told 8 News Now.
Below is the full COVID-19 report for Friday, Jan. 8.
NEVADA HOSPITALIZATIONS
NOTE: The state is not updating hospitalization data, including the number of patients in ICU units or on ventilators, on Sundays or holidays.
Nevada’s COVID-19 hospitalizations appear to be stabilizing, according to the Nevada Hospital Association (NHA). Northern Nevada hospitalizations and ICU use has dropped significantly, according to NHA’s Dec. 7 report.
According to the state’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the number of hospitalized patients in Nevada was DOWN on Friday, according to data released Saturday.
The number of hospitalizations dropped by 116 in the last day, and the current total is 1,758 confirmed/suspected cases.
The relative demand being placed on hospitals by COVID-19 is currently 34 percent.
More data from the Nevada Hospital Association (as of Jan. 7):
- Statewide licensed beds occupied: 88%
- ICU units occupancy rate: 73%
- Ventilators in use: 45%
The state set a record high for hospitalized patients on Dec. 13 with 2,025 cases.
| Top 5 | Number of Hospitalizations (statewide) | Date reported |
| 1 | 2,025 | Dec. 13 |
| 2 | 2,008 | Dec. 15 |
| 3 | 2,001 | Dec. 22 |
| 4 | 1,996 | Dec. 20, Dec. 21 |
| 5 | 1,988 | Dec. 29 |
ICU/VENTILATOR DATA FOR FRIDAY, JAN. 8:
There were 407 patients in intensive care units (ICU) across the state, up eight from Thursday.
The DHHS report showed 277 patients on ventilators, up 14 from Thursday.
NEVADA CASES, TESTING, DEATHS
There are now 246,309 confirmed cases and 3,450 COVID-19-related deaths in Nevada, with 2,648 new cases reported in the last day.
More than 1,000 cases have been reported in Nevada in 65 of the past 67 days. The state set a record for COVID-19 cases Wednesday with 3,402.
Here are the largest single-day increases for COVID-19 cases in Nevada:
| Top 5 | Number of COVID-19 cases (statewide) | Date reported |
| 1 | 3,402 | Jan. 6 |
| 2 | 3,194 | Dec. 4 |
| 3 | 3,159 | Nov. 24 |
| 4 | 3,063 | Dec. 8 |
| 5 | 2,988 | Dec. 22 |
The DHHS is reporting 56 new COVID-19-related deaths statewide. The 14-day rolling average of daily deaths now stands at 20.
“Please keep in mind that the death rates we are seeing correspond to cases diagnosed up to 5 weeks ago,” Nevada Health Response stated in a news release.
A recent update to the state’s COVID-19 daily death graph (Mortality Trends tab of DHHS dashboard) shows Dec. 10 had the highest count of fatalities with 44, followed by 42 deaths on Dec. 6. The data has not yet updated on Friday.
The Nevada DHHS says it is important to note that there is often a delay in death reporting. Cumulative daily death counts are displayed by the date of death, rather than the date the death was reported to the state. The total count for statewide deaths on the first tab may not equal the sum of the cumulative daily death counts because of cases where exact date of death is unknown or pending report.
Here are the highest number of COVID-19-related deaths recorded in a single day in Nevada:
| Top 5 | Number of deaths (statewide) | Date reported |
| 1 | 44 | Dec. 10 |
| 2 | 42 | Dec. 6 |
| 3 | 40 | Dec. 22 |
| 4 | 37 | Dec. 8 |
| 5 | 36 | Dec. 18, Dec. 20 |
As of Friday, a total of 2,210,776 tests have been conducted in Nevada, with an increase of 12,338 in the past 24 hours.
The test positivity is now being reported as a 14-day average, which puts it at 20.8% as of Friday, up from 20.7% the day before. It reached 10% on Oct. 24 but before then, Nevada had not recorded a test positivity at or above 10% since Sept. 1.
*NOTE: Daily lab data from DHHS and SNHD reports is updated every morning for the previous day.
CLARK COUNTY CASES, TESTING, DEATHS
Of Nevada’s 2,648 new COVID-19 cases, nearly 78 percent of them — 2,064 — were reported in Clark County on Friday, according to data released by the Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) on Saturday.
There is now a total of 2,603 deaths, 187,893 confirmed cases and 10,605 hospitalizations, according to the Southern Nevada Health District dashboard that updates daily.
Like Nevada, Clark County is experiencing a resurgence in hospitalizations.
There were 37 new deaths reported in Clark County in the last day. In its most recent report, the health district states that 112.3 people have died for every 100,000 people in Clark County.
SNHD data shows that 12,292 positive cases were reported in the county over the past seven days.
About a third of the cases (31.3%) reported in Clark County are among Hispanics, making it the most impacted ethnic group locally and nearly half (46.3%) of the positive cases reported in the county are in the age group of 25 to 49.
The SNHD is including the number of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) in its daily report. Twelve new cases were reported in December, 2020. Five new cases have been reported in January, with the most recent reported on Jan. 8, bringing the total to 36.
All of these cases were reported in children under the age of 14, and all of whom tested positive for COVID-19.
MIS-C is a condition where different body parts can become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs.
According to the health district, MIS-C is rare and is still being studied by the CDC to learn more about it and its impact on children. While there isn’t a known cause, many children with MIS-C had the virus that causes COVID-19 or close contact with someone who did.
The number of people who have recovered from the virus in Clark County continues to increase. As of Thursday, the county estimates a total of 163,567 recovered cases; that’s 88% of all reported cases in the county, according to SNHD’s latest report. (NOTE: The SNHD did not post their recovered cases for Friday, Jan. 8).
The health district provides a daily map with the number of positive tests in each ZIP code in Clark County.
UNLV COVID-19 CASE UPDATE
UNLV has changed the way it is reporting COVID-19 cases. At the end of each week, the university will update its graph noting new cases.
According to the most recent report, 25 new COVID-19 cases were recorded in the last week, nine among students, 13 involving staff, and three faculty members. A total of 610 cases, including both students and employees, have been recorded since UNLV began tracking COVID-19 data on March 25.
CLICK HERE TO SEE UNLV’S COVID-19 REPORT.
NEVADA COVID-19 MITIGATION EFFORTS
Governor Sisolak announced Dec. 13 that he would be extending the statewide pause, due to end Dec. 15, through Jan. 15, 2021. This comes as Nevada continues to see an increase in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations.
Nearly two weeks before the statewide pause announcement, Gov. Sisolak pleaded with Nevadans to follow a “Stay at Home 2.0” order for two weeks. Sisolak said the state needed these two weeks to bring testing timelines down, catch up on contact tracing and relieve Nevada’s healthcare infrastructure.
During a press conference on Oct. 20, Gov. Sisolak said the state is starting to see a fall surge of COVID-19. He made it clear that it is not the time to let up on mask-wearing and social distancing.
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak announced Tuesday, Sept. 29, that the group gathering limit will adjust to 250 people — five times the current limit of 50 people under COVID-19 regulations.
The change took effect Thursday, Oct. 1.
This means that many events can soon return to Nevada, including live performances and church services. WATCH: Gov. Sisolak raises cap on crowds to 250, effective Thursday.
Nevada is still continuing to get a handle on the COVID-19 pandemic, and is seeing progress with the downward trend of hospitalizations and cases. In August , Gov. Sisolak announced that Nevada’s new long-term plan will be state managed, but locally executed.
Here is a quick breakdown of how it works:
- Every week, the state will update the Elevated Disease Transmission Criteria for each county. That includes testing, case rates and positivity rates.
- Counties at high risk will need to create and implement an action plan that targets sources of infection and community spread.
For more on this new approach, click HERE.
After Gov. Sisolak extended Phase 1 restrictions of bars in Clark County on July 10, the Nevada COVID-19 Mitigation & Management Task Force voted Sept. 17 to allow Clark County bars, taverns, wineries, and similar businesses to reopen. The establishments reopened on Sept. 20. Nevada COVID-19 Mitigation & Management Task Force votes to allow Clark County bars, taverns to reopen
The state transitioned into Phase 2 of reopening on Friday, May 29, after a directive in mid-March that forced all non-essential businesses to close to avoid the spread of the coronavirus.
Nevada Health Response officials noted Tuesday, June 9, that Nevada’s COVID-19 data is showing an above-average daily increase in COVID-19 cases throughout the state. They are reminding Nevadans of precautionary measures that can be taken to minimize the spread of the virus such as staying at home when possible, wearing a face-covering in public, maintaining six feet of social distancing and keeping up with proper hand hygiene.
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