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Nevada reported the highest number of coronavirus deaths in a single day on Thursday, making it the deadliest week of the pandemic in the state.
There were 48 recorded deaths in Nevada in the previous day, well above the seven-day average of 22, the State Department of Health and Human Services reported on its website. The agency reported 35 deaths on Wednesday, at the time the second highest number of deaths in a day.
The previous record for reported deaths in one day – 38 – was set on August 20, according to state data.
There were also 2,536 additional cases of COVID-19 reported in the state on Thursday, well above the seven-day moving average of 2,107 new cases.
The updated figures brought the totals in the state to 159,532 cases and 2,249 deaths.
The increase in the number of cases is reflected in the hospitalization data. As of Wednesday, a record 1,652 people hospitalized with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19. That total fell slightly on Thursday to 1,645 hospitalizations, the second-highest number of hospitalizations since the start of the pandemic, state data showed.
As of Thursday, COVID-19 cases accounted for 29% of all hospitalizations in the state and 36% of occupants of licensed intensive care beds, according to the Nevada Hospital Association.
Deadliest week of the pandemic
Although it was only Thursday, this week has already seen 130 deaths, making it the deadliest since the COVID-19 pandemic hit Nevada in early March.
The previous highest death toll in a week was 128 from August 16 to 22.
Gov. Steve Sisolak tweeted Thursday that the milestone was a “dark day in Nevada.”
“That’s 48 more Nevada families that will be missed by a loved one this holiday season,” he said. “Please wear a mask, wash your hands and practice social distancing.”
Today is a bleak day in Nevada, with 48 reports # COVID-19[FEMALE[FEMININE death – a serious and significant record. That’s 48 more Nevada families that a loved one will miss this vacation season. Please wear a mask, wash your hands, and practice social distancing.
– Governor Sisolak (@GovSisolak) December 3, 2020
The state’s positivity rate, calculated by the Review-Journal by dividing the cumulative cases by those tested since the start of the pandemic, reached 15.97% on Thursday, an increase of 0.13 percentage points from report to the day before.
The positivity rate and the daily increase in new cases have been increasing since mid-September.
The state’s health department is calculating a positivity rate over a two-week period, and that rate rose 0.5 percentage points on Thursday to 18.1 percent. The rate is at the highest level since the state began publishing the statistics in mid-October.
Data Guide: The Impact of COVID-19 on Nevada
Clark County reported 1,854 new cases and 18 more deaths on Thursday, according to the Southern Nevada Health District.
The cumulative totals for Clark County have increased to 121,863 cases and 1,817 deaths. This data is reflected in the status report.
Day 10 of ‘break’
With the state on Day 10 of a 21-day “break”, a condition accompanied by tightened COVID restrictions ordered last week by Sisolak, Thursday’s weekly meeting of the state’s COVID Mitigation Working Group does not. new actions, only discussion.
A member of the Nevada Hospital Association task force took the time to clarify a point raised in a press release the group issued on Tuesday that some interpreted as open criticism of the state’s COVID policy – all the more so after the association edited the press release to delete the line.
Commenting on COVID prevention measures, the hospital association had written that “the closures from time to time seem to arouse animosity and apathy among the public and prove ineffective”, which some interpret as a repudiation of the governor’s order tightening the rules on public gatherings and business closures amid the resurgence of COVID-19.
Sisolak, when asked about the comment during a briefing on Wednesday, dismissed it as harmless.
Christopher Lake, executive director of community resilience at the hospital association, said Thursday he wrote the sentence but did not conceive of it as a criticism, adding that it “ was not specific to Nevada and that it aimed to communicate some of the barriers that public health) and hospitals and other organizations are battling with this disease.
When the association saw that it “created a distraction,” they removed it, Lake said.
“When I wrote that sentence, I didn’t think it was nearly as provocative as it turned out to be, especially in the face of the millions of people who literally get on planes the day after the day the CDC has issued a travel ban request, ”Lake said, apologizing for any distraction he created. “I want to let the public know what the intention was. It was not a political statement at all, nor was it specific to Nevada. “
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at [email protected] or 702-383-0240. To follow @k_newberg on Twitter. Bill Dentzer, editor of the Review-Journal, contributed to this report.
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