For the second consecutive day, Nevada reported the highest increase in coronavirus cases in the past month, although some of the new cases are again attributed to delayed reporting, health officials said.
752 new cases were reported on Saturday, most of them recorded since March 858 on March 12, according to records kept in the Review Journal and information posted on the Department of Health and Human Services’ coronavirus website. On Friday, the state recorded 637 new cases, and health officials said the high increase was due in part to backward reporting.
Clark County reported 700 new cases on Saturday. According to a statement from the Southern Nevada Health District, 471 of the recently reported cases are “attributed to a delayed electronic lab reported” from before February 3rd.
According to state data, Nevada also recorded nine additional deaths on Saturday.
Total in the state has risen to 307,704 cases and 5,332 deaths since the pandemic began. All of the deaths reported Saturday occurred in Clark County, according to information published on the Southern Nevada District of Health’s Coronavirus website.
New cases were well above the 14-day moving average of daily recorded cases, which stood at 211. The deaths were also well above the two-week moving average of three daily recorded deaths.
Major disease measures have been declining for nearly three months, but the trend lines have flattened and are showing an increase, government officials said.
State and county health institutions regularly redistribute the daily data after it has been reported to better reflect the date of death or onset of symptoms, therefore the moving average trend lines often differ from daily reports and are considered better indicators of the direction of outbreak.
The two-week positivity rate of the state, which mainly follows how many people tested for COVID-19 were infected with the virus, rose for the sixth day in a row and rose by 0.1 percentage point to 4.9 percent.
The rate gradually dropped to a low of 4 percent for almost three months before starting to rise on Monday.
Clark County’s positivity rate rose 0.2 percentage points on Saturday, reaching 4.8 percent, according to state data.
Cumulative totals in the country rose to 237,737 cases and 4,178 deaths.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at [email protected] or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.