The full COVID-19 report for Aug. 2-8 appears below.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — COVID-19 cases continue to drop fast in Clark County, falling more than 20% for the second week in a row according to data released Wednesday by the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services.
Hospitalizations are following the same trend, declining rapidly over the past five weeks to levels last seen in late May. There are now only 226 COVID-19 patients in Southern Nevada hospitals — down by 59 since last week — and only 286 patients statewide. Nevada has only 43 COVID-19 patients in intensive care and only 12 on ventilators.
The 14-day moving average of new cases (per 100,000 population) dropped by 22.7%, with case counts reported by the county at their lowest level since April. Statewide, the average fell by 21.2%.
Clark County was downgraded from “high” community level to “medium” on Thursday, Aug. 4. That reduced CDC mask recommendations. Find more detail here.
The county reported 37 deaths, while Nevada’s total was at 40. So far during the pandemic, 11,297 deaths have been reported in the state.
Wastewater surveillance showed increases in the amount of COVID-19 DNA in samples taken in Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and one Henderson monitoring site. Counts that were very high at a monitoring site in Pahrump recently have not been updated this week.
The viral counts shown on the dashboard are not the same as COVID-19 cases — the counts are just indicators that the virus is present in the community, and often the increases come before anyone in the community gets sick.
The omicron (BA.5) variant remains the dominant strain, accounting for 82.5% of Clark County’s cases. That’s up from 75.4% last week.
A graph from the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory in Reno shows how the (BA.5) variant and its subvariants have become the dominant strain since July 2:
A look at vaccinations shows that 55.30% of all eligible Nevadans are now fully vaccinated. Statistics show that 64.80% of the population has initiated vaccination. The statistics have been adjusted to expand the eligible population numbers now that children as young as 6 months are eligible for vaccination. SNHD began offering vaccinations for children ages 6 months to 5 years old in June.
COVID-19 vaccines, available for free, greatly reduce the chance of severe illness or death.
CLARK COUNTY
- New daily confirmed cases (14-day moving average) 326 — down from 422 last week
- Total cases: 587,219*
- Deaths: 37 since last week (total: 8,828)
- Hospitalizations: 226 (down 59 since last week)
*-A difference in case counts exists between SNHD and the state. SNHD has reported for several weeks that it is working to address the difference. By SNHD’s current count, Clark County has had 570,831 cases as of this week.
NEVADA
- New daily confirmed cases (14-day moving average) 433 — down from 550 last week
- Total cases: 770,315
- Deaths: 40 (total: 11,297)
- Hospitalizations: 286 (down 92 since last week)
The state and county are now providing weekly updates on COVID-19 cases, deaths and hospitalizations. Data released today includes information collected from Tuesday, Aug. 2, through Monday, Aug. 8.