Nevada reports most COVID deaths in a day since mid-February

Nevada on Tuesday reported the largest single-day coronavirus death toll in nearly six months, according to state data.

The 40 additional fatalities reported by the Department of Health and Human Services were the most since 41 were reported on Feb. 17, according to records maintained by the Review-Journal.

Nevada also recorded 1,125 new COVID-19 cases over the preceding day. The state has now logged at least 1,000 cases of the disease in 10 of its last 11 daily updates.

The new numbers pushed state totals to 367,709 cases and 6,080 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

New cases remained higher than the 14-day moving average of daily reported cases, which decreased from 981 to 950.

The average has been climbing since it reached a recent low of 132 on June 5, with much of that growth occurring in Clark County.

Deaths were four times the moving two-week average of 10 fatalities per day.

Data guide: COVID-19’s impact on Nevada

State and county health agencies also often redistribute the daily data after it is reported to better reflect the date of death or a test 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.

The state’s two-week test positivity rate, which essentially tracks the percentage of people tested for COVID-19 who are found to be infected, remained unchanged at 16.3 percent, according to state data.

The rate has increased substantially since hitting a recent low of 3.3 percent on June 9. The metric now stands at its highest level since Feb. 2.

As of Tuesday’s report, 1,279 people in Nevada were hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases, 16 more than the day prior, state data shows.

Clark County, meanwhile, recorded 733 new coronavirus cases and 32 additional deaths, according to data posted to the Southern Nevada Health District’s coronavirus website.

Cumulative totals in the county rose to 289,114 cases and 4,860 deaths.

The county’s two-week test positivity rate decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 17 percent.