We’re seeing a rise in COVID in Nevada, official says

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New cases of COVID-19 in Clark County and statewide continued to rise this week, but at a slower rate, while hospitalizations fell, according to new state data.

For the second week in a row, Clark County is seeing average community levels of COVID-19 — a federal designation based on cases and hospitalizations — after resting for months at low levels.

Due to average levels of illness, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as the Southern Nevada Health District recommend that people over the age of 65 or with underlying medical conditions wear a properly fitting mask when in inside in public.

“We are seeing an increase, and so, yes, we recommend the use of face coverings in crowded interior areas for these particular groups,” Cassius Lockett, district director of disease surveillance and control, said Wednesday. sanitary.

In Nevada, Mineral, Esmeralda, Nye and Lincoln counties are also facing average levels of community illness, with the rest of the state seeing low levels.

Decline in hospitalizations

The 14-day average of daily new confirmed cases in Clark County rose to 270 from 249 last week – an increase of more than 8%, according to data released Wednesday by the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services. . The previous week, new cases increased by 50%.

Statewide, new daily cases rose to 348 from 324 last week.

Confirmed and suspected COVID-19 hospitalizations in the county decreased to 294 from 311 last week, according to state data. Statewide, hospitalizations fell to 345 from 359 last week.

The Nevada Hospital Association said 15% of hospital emergency department visits over the past week were related to COVID-19, a decrease of 2 percentage points.

Flu hospitalizations remained relatively stable, with an average of 156 hospitalizations per day, the association said.

The number of childhood hospitalizations for respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, fell last week from 78 to 46 patients.

Pediatric units in hospitals remain full due to an onslaught of respiratory infections. However, there was a slight improvement from the previous week, the association said. The number of children held in the emergency room while waiting for a bed has decreased.

Overall hospital occupancy remains stable at 75%, with 78% occupancy in intensive care units – a slight decrease.

“Some kind of mess there”

With COVID-19, influenza and RSV all circulating, the health district suggests that the general public — not just those most vulnerable — consider wearing a mask indoors or in crowded spaces, Lockett said. .

“It’s kind of a mess there,” he said. “All these diseases are circulating at the same time. This is what we thought was going to happen at the very start of the pandemic, and now it hits us all with a bang. »

He noted that despite a moderate level of disease in the community, serious illnesses and deaths remain relatively low.

Daily COVID-19 deaths in the county were less than 2 per day in November, compared to around 30 per day in January, he said.

Many health authorities expect the upward trend across the country to continue.

“I think we will see an increase in cases, hospitalizations and deaths,” said Julie Swann, a professor at North Carolina State University who studies COVID-19 trends and advises the CDC. “But I don’t think this (winter) will be like it was last January when it comes to COVID.”

Instead, she expects a continuation of the smaller, incremental increases of recent weeks in the short term. She does not expect larger increases due to the immunity the population has acquired through vaccination and previous infection. Moreover, a radically different new variant of the virus has not emerged.

“I am prepared for the possibility that around the world there may be mutations (of the virus),” Swann said. “And some of these mutations could come back to the United States and come back when people haven’t had COVID or been boosted for over a year.”

It could happen next spring or fall, leading to “another wave of serious consequences”, she said.

However, the updated bivalent booster now available matches well with the virus strains currently in circulation. That’s good news, Lockett said, for those 6 months and older who are eligible to be boosted.

Contact Mary Hynes at [email protected] or 702-383-0336. Follow @MaryHynes1 on Twitter.

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