Below is the full COVID-19 report for Nov. 16.

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Nevada reports 660 new COVID-19 cases — 430 from Clark County — in data released today.

Eleven deaths were reported statewide, with 10 from Clark County.

Hospitalizations dropped, and the test positivity rate remained unchanged for both the state and the county.

The Nevada Hospital Association is seeing improvements statewide in hospitalization numbers, but staffing remains at “alert” status. NHA is expressing optimism as medication in pill form nears approval for use in the United States. “Hopefully, these two medications will reduce hospital COVID-19 demand, particularly ICU demand.”

A look at current COVID-19 numbers:

CLARK COUNTY

  • New cases: 430 (total: 339,123)
  • Deaths: 10 (total: 6,096)
  • Test positivity rate: 6.9% (unchanged from the previous day)
  • Hospitalizations: 562 (down 7 from the previous day)

NEVADA

  • New cases: 660 (total: 450,846)
  • Deaths: 11 (total: 7,883)
  • Test positivity rate: 7.6% (unchanged from the previous day)
  • Hospitalizations: 706 (down 19 from the previous day)

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. A rating above 100 cases per 100,000 individuals or higher is considered “high” transmission risk, while 50-99.99 per 100,000 is considered “substantial” by the CDC. The county must reach “moderate” for two full weeks.

Test positivity in Clark County is at 6.9%, unchanged from the previous day. The current case rate for Clark County is “high” at 117.9.

Nevada’s test positivity rate is at 7.6%, unchanged from the previous day. It fell below 5.0%, the World Health Organization’s goal, on May 17 and climbed above it on June 28.

Of the 11 additional COVID-19-related deaths reported in Nevada, 10 were from Clark County. Southern Nevada now accounts for 6,096 of the state’s 7,883 deaths. The 14-day rolling average is at 7 deaths per day.

As of Nov. 11, the Southern Nevada Health District reports there are 195 breakthrough deaths (+5), 607 breakthrough hospitalizations (+20) and 12,125 breakthrough cases (+430). (Increases are compared to numbers reported on Nov. 4.)

As of yesterday, a total of 5,456,923 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Nevada, with an increase of 9,414 since the previous day’s report. 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 “high” at 117.9 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 (458 per 100,000 over the past 30 days) is flagged in data reported today. Test positivity rate (6.9%) and testing (319 tests per day per 100,000) are within the state’s acceptable range.

VACCINATION UPDATE

The state’s health department reports 3,491,811 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Nevada, as of Nov. 16.

As of today, 57.06% of Nevadans currently eligible for the vaccine are fully vaccinated, and 66.57% of the eligible population has initiated vaccinations. Clark County reports that 56.36% 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 DOWN (-19) from the last report.

The current number of hospitalizations is 706 confirmed/suspected cases. Hospitals reported 157 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.

The latest report from the Nevada Hospital Association notes a decrease in COVID-19 patients within rural ICUs, allowing a change in status from “warning” to “watch.” While the summer spike of Delta variant cases was statewide, it hit rural counties particularly hard.

Hospitals statewide continue to be on “alert” status for staffing.

According to NHA, hospitalizations have been increasing in Clark and Douglas counties, and decreasing in Elko and Humboldt counties.

NHA also expresses some optimism over new treatments that will soon be available in the COVID-19 fight:

“New treatments anticipated: Several new COVID-19 therapies are expected to be available within Nevada in the coming days and weeks. The first will be the oral therapeutic from Merck. This medicine is already being used in the UK to treat mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults with comorbidities. The second treatment is Pfizer’s Paxlovid, an oral antiviral medication. Both medications are expected to be available with limited allocations to the states until production can be ramped-up. Both drugs will be released under Emergency Use Authorization (EAU) rules. Hopefully, these two medications will reduce hospital COVID-19 demand, particularly ICU demand.”

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 322,284 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.

State approval for vaccinating children 5-11 years old was given on Nov. 3, with plans by the Southern Nevada Health District to begin vaccinations on Nov. 10. The Pfizer vaccine is the only vaccine approved for children at this time.

SEE ALSO: Previous day’s report