Below is the full COVID-19 report for Tuesday, July 20
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Just over two weeks since the Fourth of July holiday weekend, COVID-19 is taking a heavy toll again, with 28 deaths reported statewide, according to data released Wednesday. And 27 of those deaths came in Clark County.
A look at trends in hospitalizations and the state’s test positivity rate show no sign of slowing.
Nevada has nearly reached 1,000 hospitalized COVID-19 patients again, with 994 reported today. That number increased by 64 in just one day.
The state’s test positivity rate is at 12.6%, growing steadily since mid-June. That growth is being fueled by the infections in Clark County, where 14% of COVID-19 tests are coming back positive.
New state COVID-19 cases increased by 931 on Tuesday, with 842 reported in Clark County — that’s about 90% of the state’s cases.
Clark County remains a “sustained hotspot” being watched by the federal government, according to a White House COVID-19 Team report updated this week.
A White House report last week singled out the Las Vegas metro area as the worst in the nation for transmission of the virus among metro areas with more than 1 million people. This week’s report lists Las Vegas as No. 4, only behind three Florida cities, including Jacksonville, Orlando, and Miami.
This comes as Clark County commissioners put a new mask requirement in place on Tuesday. Beginning Thursday, employees are required to wear masks if they are working indoors in public spaces. Last week, the Southern Nevada Health District recommended that everyone — vaccinated or not — should wear a mask in crowded indoor public settings.
A BREAKDOWN OF CASES & DEATHS & TESTING
Nevada’s case count grew by 931 in the past day, most from Clark County (842). The state’s total cases are now at 347,098. Clark County has a total of 272,152. 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 12.6%, up from 12.4% in the past day. 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 even higher, at 14%, up from the previous report of 13.8%.
Nevada reported 28 COVID-19-related deaths in the past 24 hours, 27 from Clark County. Southern Nevada now accounts for 4,592 of the state’s 5,789 deaths. The 14-day rolling average is four deaths per day.
As of Tuesday, a total of 3,648,495 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Nevada, with an increase of 9,248 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 Churchill, Elko, Esmeralda, Lyon, Mineral, and Nye counties.
Clark County’s case rate (621 per 100,000 over the past 30 days) and test positivity rate (14%) are flagged in data reported today. Testing (193 tests per day per 100,000) is within the state’s acceptable range.
VACCINATION UPDATE
The state’s health department reports 2,623,676 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Nevada, as of July 20. Of Nevada’s total doses, 2,089,836 have been administered in the southern part of the state, according to the Health District’s daily dashboard update.
As of today, more than 46% of Nevadans currently eligible for the vaccine are fully vaccinated, and 55% of the eligible population has initiated vaccinations. Clark County reports that more than 48% of its eligible residents are fully vaccinated, edging closer to its goal of 60%.
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, increasing by 64 patients.
The current number of hospitalizations is 994 confirmed/suspected cases. Hospitals reported 210 of those patients were in intensive care units, and 111 were on ventilators.
“As of 20 July, Nevada is approximately 30 days into the current wave formation. The current total (n=994) is near the peak level of Nevada’s second wave (n=1,147) and approximately half of the largest wave (third), which peaked (n=2,025) in December 2020. For a historical reference, the second wave peaked after about 44 days of sustained increased hospitalizations, and the third wave peaked following approximately 66 consecutive days of hospitalization increases.,” according to the most recent report from the Nevada Hospital Association (NHA).
“The increases in Nevada’s COVID-19 case count are entirely driven by activity in the southern part of the state. Northern and rural areas are seeing very modest increases or remaining stable,” NHA said.
In its weekly wrap-up, NHA notes that hospitals are able to handle the current caseload.
“Southern hospitals are appreciating high, all-cause occupancy rates simultaneously with this fourth wave of COVID-19 patients. However, hospitals are not reporting shortages of supplies, medications, or vaccines. Staffing challenges and an ability to transfer outpatients to skilled nursing facilities reportedly add complexity levels to the high occupancy rates.”
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 254,488 recovered cases; that’s 94.1% 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.
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.
Beginning July 22, employees working indoors in public spaces will be required to wear masks.
Otherwise, fully-vaccinated Nevadans no longer have to wear masks. However, 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
