Nevada Health Response notes COVID-19 cases exceed 52,000

COVID-19 Response Director Caleb Cage and Deputy Administrator of Community Health Services Julia Peek provided the update during a teleconference designed to disseminate information on outbreak statistics. The Nevada Health Response website can be accessed 24 hours a day.

Nevada has completed 647,677 molecular tests since the beginning of COVID-19, an increase of 6,012 since Monday, Cage and Peek announced. The cumulative test positivity rate is 10.2%, while the daily positivity rate is at 16.2%.

For the most recent seven-day period, cases are growing at a rate of 2.2%, or 1,035 new cases per day. For comparison, the growth rate for the 7-day period ending July 31 was 2.3%, or 1,037 new cases per day. The growth rate for the 7-day period ending June 30 was 3.9%, or 644 new cases per day. The growth rate for the 7-day period ending May 31 was 1.4%, or 116 new cases per day.

Nevada recorded 15 deaths to COVID-19 on Monday, and Cage and Peek reminded participants on the teleconference that death rates correspond to cases identified five weeks earlier.

There were 1,146 hospitalized COVID-19 patients as of Monday, with statewide hospital occupancy rates at 75% and intensive care units at an occupancy rate of 72%. About 45% of the ventilators statewide were in use.

The report noted that 14.7% of cases have been identified through contact tracing. Contact tracers through the state’s contract with Deloitte are working 12 hours a day, seven days a week in Clark County to complement state and county efforts. Deloitte contact tracers are providing surge capacity to the Southern Nevada Health District, Carson City Health and Human Services and the Washoe County Health District.

Cage and Peek concluded by saying that, given the statistics, “it is extremely important to social distance, wear a face covering, not socialize in big groups and maintain general hygiene and cleanliness.”