Nevada reports 627 new COVID cases, 7 deaths over weekend

Nevada on Monday reported 627 new coronavirus cases and seven deaths over the preceding three days.

The state Department of Health and Human Services posted the updated data covering Friday through Sunday on the state’s coronavirus website. The state no longer reports numbers over the weekend.

Public health officials have said the reports on Monday and possibly Tuesday will typically be inflated as a result of the delayed reporting.

The two-week moving average of new cases held steady at 114. The new report pushed the state’s case total to 326,019.

Deaths from COVID-19 were just above the two-week moving average of two a day when spread over three days. The latest fatalities brought the state’s death toll to 5,607.

Data guide: COVID-19’s impact on Nevada

The state’s two-week positivity rate, which essentially tracks the percentage of people tested for COVID-19 who are found to be infected, dropped 0.1 percentage point to 3.5 percent, according to state data.

The rate has been steadily dropping for over a month after a brief surge. It’s high point was 21.2 percent on Jan. 14.

The data also showed 238 people with either confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 were hospitalized in the state, an increase of 12 from the last update on Friday.

State and county health agencies often redistribute the daily data after it is reported to better reflect the date of death or onset of symptoms, which is why the moving-average trend lines frequently differ from daily reports and are considered better indicators of the direction of the outbreak.

Meanwhile, the Southern Nevada Health District reported 556 new cases in Clark County for Friday through Sunday, bringing the local cumulative case total to 253,006. It also reported four of the state’s deaths, bringing the number of deaths in the county to 4,424.

The county’s 14-day positivity rate fell to 3.4 percent.

County numbers are reflected in the statewide totals.

Contact Jonah Dylan at jdylan@reviewjournal.com. Follow @TheJonahDylan on Twitter.