Below is the full COVID-19 report for Wednesday, Aug. 18
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Nevada and Clark County’s test positivity rates continue to drop and are now sitting around 15%, according to COVID-19 data released today. The state’s rate is at 15.2%, while the test positivity in Clark County is at 14.8%.
Nevada is reporting more than 1,400 new COVID-19 cases and 11 deaths in the past day.
Clark County reached a grim milestone on Wednesday as it surpassed 5,000 COVID-19-related deaths.
The Nevada Hospital Association has begun collecting the aggregate vaccination statuses of patients being treated for COVID-19 who require hospitalization. In its most recent report published today, the NHA finds that initial data “supports the preliminary hypothesis that the majority of hospitalized COVID-19 patients are disproportionately unvaccinated.”
Nevada continues to be labeled a place with high COVID-19 transmission and Clark County remains “an area of concern,” according to an updated White House report released Tuesday. The county was first labeled a “sustained hot spot” on July 5.
Almost all of Nevada is labeled as a “high transmission” area, and it is now one of 44 listed as high transmission states. The CDC is using cases per 100,000 over the past seven days to determine high transmission.
There are 220.4 new cases reported per 100,000 every seven days in Clark County, according to the Southern Nevada Health District.
The health district encourages everyone to get vaccinated, and those who are not yet fully vaccinated to get their second doses as soon as possible. “The vaccines are safe and highly effective at preventing hospitalization and death,” SNHD noted in a news release Wednesday.
A BREAKDOWN OF CASES & DEATHS & TESTING
Nevada’s case count grew by 1,413 in the past day, most from Clark County (918). The state’s total cases are now at 377,493. Clark County has a total of 296,022. It’s important to note that the state no longer updates the dashboard on the weekend or holidays, which may be why Monday and Tuesday reports show higher case and death totals.
Nevada’s test positivity rate is at 15.2%, down from 15.6%. 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 has fallen to 14.8% from the previous day’s report of 15.3%.
Of the 11 additional COVID-19-related deaths reported in the past day, nine were from Clark County. Southern Nevada now accounts for 5,014 of the state’s 6,259 deaths. The 14-day rolling average is 11 deaths per day.
As of Aug. 11, the health district reports there are 225 breakthrough hospitalizations and 49 breakthrough deaths.
As of Wednesday, a total of 3,916,290 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Nevada, with an increase of 11,846 in the past day.
*NOTE: Daily lab data from DHHS and SNHD reports is updated every morning for the previous day.
TRACKING NV COUNTIES
July 6 was the first time since March 3 that Clark County had been flagged for elevated disease transmission (A county is flagged for elevated disease transmission if it meets two or three of the above criteria). In today’s report, Clark remains flagged, along with Carson City, Churchill, Douglas, Elko, Eureka, Humboldt, Lyon, Mineral, Nye, Storey, White Pine and Washoe counties.
Clark County’s case rate (1,008 per 100,000 over the past 30 days) and test positivity rate (14.8%) are flagged in data reported today. Testing (289 tests per day per 100,000) is within the state’s acceptable range.
VACCINATION UPDATE
The state’s health department reports 2,828,236 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Nevada, as of Aug. 18.
As of today, nearly 50% of Nevadans currently eligible for the vaccine are fully vaccinated, and 60% of the eligible population has initiated vaccinations. Clark County reports that nearly 49% 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 in the past day.
The current number of hospitalizations is 1,251 confirmed/suspected cases. Hospitals reported 269 of those patients were in intensive care units, and 201 were on ventilators. To give some perspective, the state set a record high for hospitalized patients on Dec. 13 with 2,025 cases.
Nevada hospitalizations are remaining stable “week over week,” according to the most recent report from the Nevada Hospital Association (NHA).
“Northern Nevada hospitals continue to experience increases in COVID-19 patients, while the southern
region may have crested,” NHA noted. The organization reports that 24% of all patients hospitalized in Southern Nevada have COVID-19, with 33% of all licensed ICU beds occupied by a COVID-19 patient.
The NHA is now collecting the aggregate vaccination statuses of patients being treated for COVID-19 who require hospitalization. Hospitals are voluntarily reporting data currently, so the NHA says it is “still too early in the data collection process to draw any firm conclusions. However, initial data support the preliminary hypothesis that the majority of hospitalized COVID-19 patients are disproportionately unvaccinated.“
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 277,354 recovered cases; that’s 93.7% 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
