County, Nevada COVID cases fall

COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations dropped earlier this month in Clark County and throughout Nevada, new state data shows.

And the good news doesn’t stop there.

Hospitalizations for other respiratory viruses also are declining.

“Nevada continues to experience a rapid decline in the number of persons requiring hospitalization for respiratory viruses, including COVID-19, flu and RSV,” the Nevada Hospital Association said in a weekly report Jan. 18.

RSV is respiratory syncytial virus.

The 14-day average for daily new COVID-19 cases in the county fell to 150 from 194 the previous week — a decline of 23 percent. Statewide, the average also fell by 23 percent, to 188 from 245, according to data published Jan. 18 by the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services.

Suspected and confirmed COVID-19 hospitalizations in the county fell 19 percent, to 190 from 236. Statewide, they declined 25 percent, to 219 from the previous week’s 292.

The 14-day average for daily new deaths remained at one for both the county and state.

Respiratory viruses generally have not stressed Nevada’s intensive care units in the past week, according to the hospital association. The exception would be pediatric intensive care units, which remain full.

Overall, emergency room visits are declining, the association said. Eleven percent of visits were for COVID-19, and that percentage has been steadily declining.

New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that all counties in Nevada are experiencing low levels of COVID-19, as determined by case numbers and hospitalizations. Clark County and several other counties in the state had been at medium levels in recent weeks.

A new highly transmissible variant — XBB.1.5, or “kraken,” as it has been nicknamed — is gaining traction across the country. However, cases and hospitalizations generally are trending downward in the U.S., the most recent CDC data shows.

Contact Mary Hynes at mhynes@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0336. Follow @MaryHynes1 on Twitter.