Declining COVID-19 cases in Clark County have translated into a significant drop in a key metric used to guide school reopening decisions.
The rate of new cases per 100,000 population over 14 days dropped to 310.54 as of Monday, putting the county back into the “moderate” range for disease activity, according to data released Tuesday by Clark County Public Health.
The “moderate” range requires between 50 and 350 new cases per 100,000 people over 14 days. It comes with state recommendations that schools can begin phasing in of in-person learning, beginning with elementary students not already in-person classes and middle school students.
If schools can demonstrate the ability to limit transmission in schools, the guidelines recommend adding high school students after middle school students, when rates drop below 200 cases per 100,000 over 14 days.
Activity Level
Clark County COVID-19 14-day activity level of new cases per 100,000 according to Clark County Public Health.
Dec. 14: 450.56
Dec. 21: 433.98
Dec. 28: 386.08
Jan. 4: 324.87
Jan. 11: 397.95
Jan. 18: 473.69
Jan. 25: 401.23
Feb. 2: 310.54
The new data comes as the county reported 40 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the average number of cases since Friday to 87 a day, lower than the average of about 94 cases per day last week. Total COVID-19 cases are now 17,204 to date. Public Health warned that a delay in lab processing at the state means that not all positive cases are included in Tuesday’s numbers.
One new death was reported Tuesday, a man in his 70s with underlying conditions, according to Public Health. His death brings the county’s total from COVID-19 to 187. Four deaths were reported Monday.
The number of active cases fell to 599, from 656 on Monday. Those cases are still considered contagious and in their isloation period.
Hospitalizations also fell. There were 44 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Clark County as of Tuesday, down from 52 on Monday. The number of people hospitalized awaiting test results fell to five, down from seven on Monday, according to Public Health data.
The percentage of occupied licensed ICU beds fell to 78.1 percent on Tuesday, down from 89.1 percent on Monday.
The rate of new infections has been declining since a post-holiday surge. The beginning of that decline is starting to show up in COVID-19 testing data, which lags several weeks behind the date. The positivity rate was 11.82 percent in the week of Jan. 10-16, down from 12.47 percent the week before and down from a peak of 13.21 percent between Dec. 27 and Jan. 2.
