LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Nevada continues to experience a significant resurgence in COVID-19 hospitalizations, breaking its record on Tuesday with a total of 1,246 hospitalized patients — the most ever reported since the beginning of the pandemic. An increase of 87 cases in the last day shattered the previous record high of 1,165 cases reported in July.
The state is reporting 1,665 positive COVID-19 tests. More than three quarters of those cases — 1,322 — came from Clark County.
More than 1,000 coronavirus cases have been reported in Nevada in 14 of the past 15 days.
Nevada broke its daily COVID-19 case record three times last week, reporting 2,269 positive tests on Friday — the first time the state has reported more than 2,000 cases.
There is now a total of 125,459 confirmed COVID-19 cases statewide, with 98,930 in Clark County.
The state’s test positivity rate remains at 15.6 percent. Nevada has continued an upward trend that has seen the rate climb sharply since the end of October.
There is now a total of 1,947 deaths statewide, with 1,640 from Clark County.
Governor Sisolak announced Friday he tested positive for COVID-19. In a press release Monday, he gave an update, stating he’s “in good spirits.”
According to Nevada Health Response, there were 6,918 tests performed on Tuesday. The state typically reports between 8,000 and 10,000 tests a day.
For the fifth 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 14 counties flagged in the tracker, updated daily on the DHHS Dashboard.
Clark County has a case rate of 905 per 100,000, and a test positivity of 13.9 percent.
Below is the full COVID-19 report for Tuesday, Nov. 17.
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 is continuing to see a resurgence in COVID-19 hospitalizations, according to the Nevada Hospital Association (NHA). The state has reported 305 more hospitalizations over the past week.
According to the state’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the number of hospitalized patients in Nevada was UP on Tuesday, according to data released Wednesday.
The number of hospitalizations increased by 87, bringing the current total to 1,246 — the highest number of hospitalized patients the state has ever recorded.
In its Nov. 17 report, the NHA noted: “Nevada continues to see exponential growth in COVID-19 hospitalizations driven almost exclusively by Washoe and Clark Counties which currently account for 97% of all hospitalizations. Current strategies are not successfully minimizing the spread of serious disease.”
The NHA says the healthcare infrastructure remains in “fair condition.” Some individual facilities are experiencing “significant occupancy rates,” according to the NHA. The overall burden place on facilities currently is 23 percent statewide.
The organization wants the public to know that “while influenza is currently not of immediate concern, it will be imperative to get this wave under control before the January/February flu season takes hold.”
More data from the Nevada Hospital Association (as of Nov. 17):
- Statewide hospital occupancy rates: 81%
- ICU units occupancy rate: 62%
- Ventilators in use: 34%
The state set a new record high for hospitalized patients on Nov. 17 with 1,246 cases.
| Top 5 | Number of Hospitalizations (statewide) | Date reported |
| 1 | 1,246 | Nov. 17 |
| 2 | 1,165 | July 31 |
| 3 | 1,160 | July 23 |
| 4 | 1,159 | July 30, Nov. 16 |
| 5 | 1,152 | Aug. 2 |
ICU/VENTILATOR DATA FOR TUESDAY, NOV. 17:
There were 264 patients in intensive care units (ICU) across the state Tuesday, up 27 from the previous day.
The DHHS report showed 141 patients on ventilators, up five from the previous day.
NEVADA CASES, TESTING, DEATHS
There are now 125,459 confirmed cases and 1,947 COVID-19-related deaths in Nevada, with 1,665 new cases reported in the last day.
More than 1,000 cases have been reported in Nevada in 14 of the past 15 days.
The DHHS is reporting three new COVID-19-related deaths statewide in the past 24 hours. On Monday, the state tied its record set on Aug. 6 for the most deaths reported in a single-day with 27. The state is reporting a 14-day rolling average of six deaths daily.
It is important to note there is a delay in death reporting by both the state and county.
“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, page 3 of DHHS dashboard) shows Aug. 6 and Nov. 16 tied for the highest count of fatalities with 27, followed by 26 deaths on Aug. 5.
The highest number of fatalities recorded in a single-day:
| Top 5 | Number of deaths (statewide) | Date reported |
| 1 | 27 deaths | Aug. 6, Nov. 16 |
| 2 | 26 deaths | Aug. 5 |
| 3 | 23 deaths | Aug. 15 |
| 4 | 22 deaths | Aug. 11 |
| 5 | 21 deaths | Aug. 9 |
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.
The state set a record for COVID-19 cases on Nov. 14 with 2,269.
Here are the largest single-day increases for COVID-19 cases in Nevada:
| Top 5 | Number of COVID-19 cases (statewide) | Date reported |
| 1 | 2,269 | Nov. 14 |
| 2 | 1,914 | Nov. 15 |
| 3 | 1,857 | Nov. 13 |
| 4 | 1,824 | Nov. 7 |
| 5 | 1,697 | Nov. 16 |
The state’s health experts say as more COVID-19 tests are conducted, the state will see a rise in cases.
As of Tuesday, a total of 1,454,741 tests have been conducted in Nevada, with an increase of 6,918 in the past 24 hours. According to the state, a transition to a “testing encounters” methodology to account for people who receive both a rapid and PCR test on the same day will result in an overall decrease in the total reported number of tests by 3.8%.
With new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations rising over the past several weeks, Nevada’s test positivity rate has risen above 10 percent. The test positivity is now being reported as a 14-day average, which puts it at 15.6% as of Tuesday. It reached 10% on Oct. 24 but before then, Nevada had not recorded a test positivity at or above 10% since September 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 1,665 new COVID-19 cases, 1,322 of them were reported in Clark County on Tuesday, according to data released by the Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) on Wednesday.
There is now a total of 1,640 deaths, 98,930 confirmed cases and 7,930 hospitalizations, according to the Southern Nevada Health District dashboard that updates daily.
Like Nevada, Clark County is experiencing a resurgence in hospitalizations.
There were no new deaths reported in Clark County in the last day, but there was one less death reflected in the dashboard. In its most recent report, the health district states that 70.4 people have died for every 100,000 people in Clark County.
SNHD data shows that 7,626 positive cases were reported in the county over the past seven days.
More than a third of the cases (37.7%) reported in Clark County are among Hispanics, making it the most impacted ethnic group locally and nearly half (47.3%) 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. In the last two weeks, five new cases have been added to the total of 16.
Since Sept. 10, seven additional cases have been reported; one on Sept. 30, one on Oct. 2, one each on Nov. 4-6, one on Nov. 10, and another on Nov. 16, bringing the total to 16. 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 Tuesday, the county estimates a total of 86,010 recovered cases; that’s 86.9% 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.
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, four new COVID-19 cases were recorded in the last week, all of which were students. A total of 393 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
As Nevada sees an increase in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, Gov. Sisolak is again encouraging Nevadans to do their part to prevent the spread of COVID-19, or the state-wide situation might worsen. In a passionate plea on Tuesday, Nov. 10, the governor requested that all Nevada residents follow a “Stay at Home 2.0” order for the next two weeks.
Sisolak said the state needs the next 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.
SEE ALSO: Tuesday’s reports
More coverage:
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