Clark County reported 128 new COVID-19 cases and one new death on Thursday as health officials warned the impact of a post-holiday surge in cases will be more evident next week.
The fatality was a woman in her 60s with no underlying conditions, according to Clark County Public Health. Her death brings the county’s total deaths from COVID-19 to 150. More than half of those deaths have occurred since Nov. 9, according to Public Health data.
The new cases bring the county’s total to 14,128 cases to date and represent an average of about 174 new cases a day since Dec. 31, up from an average of about 83 new cases per day in the last week of December.
COVID-19 activity has fallen for three weeks and was at 324.9 new cases per 100,000 population over two weeks in data from Dec. 16-29, before a post-holiday surge in cases began.
“We will see the potential impact of the increased case numbers over the weekend when we calculate the rate again next week,” Public Health said in a social media post. “Please continue taking steps to slow the spread of COVID-19 in our community.”
Active cases and hospitalizations continue to rise with the increasing caseload.
There were 1,132 active and potentially contagious cases reported as of Thursday, up from 1,103 the day before.
There were 83 people hospitalized in Clark County with COVID-19, up from 78 the day before, and four people hospitalized awaiting test results, according to Public Health data.
People either with or suspected of having COVID-19 took up 15.1 percent of the county’s licensed beds, according to Public Health.
Public Health also reported that81.7 percent of the county’s licensed hospital beds were occupied as of Thursday, which is higher than the state’s guideline for adequate hospital capacity. Public Health also reported that 84.4 percent of Clark County’s ICU beds were occupied; the state does not have a guideline set for general ICU bed occupancy.
