Next week will tell if Labor Day increased COVID-19 infections in Nevada

The head of the governor’s Coronavirus Task Force says next week’s data will tell the impact of bar re-openings , gatherings and parties over the Labor Day weekend.

That will be three weeks after the holiday and Nevada saw increases from Memorial Day and the 4^th of July.

But both Caleb Cage and Gov. Steve Sisolak said they are very pleased with the progress the existing data is showing.

“I was thrilled to see so much progress throughout Nevada’s counties when it comes to reducing the spread of the virus,” said Sisolak.

Cage attributed Nevadans following safety guidelines for helping bring down the bad numbers.

He said the experts are continuing to evaluate current trends and work on updates to statewide standards if those trends continue.

Cage said at this point, Elko and Mineral counties are no longer flagged as having an elevated risk of transmission.

Douglas, Humboldt, Lander, Lincoln, Lyon, Mineral and Pershing all report zero COVID hospitalizations. No new deaths have been reported in Carson City, Churchill County, Douglas,, Lyon or Storey counties.

That means Clark and Lyon counties are the only two of Nevada’s 17 counties that still meet two of the three criteria the state uses to order restrictions. Lyon doesn’t have enough people getting tested yet although that number has increased significantly and still has a slightly higher positivity rate than the 7 percent cutoff. But Lyon is down to just 7.3 percent.

Clark’s positivity rate dropped 1.5 percent since last week and is now at just 7.1 percent. The county is performing plenty of tests.

That county has been allowed to reopen bars. But Clark’s case rate per 100,000 is still above the 200 line at 313 per 100,000.

Clark accounts for 1,328 of the 1,531 deaths attributed to the virus.

As of Monday morning, Nevada had confirmed 76,036 cases of the virus, an increase of 232 from the day before. Just 55.2 percent were in Clark County with 39..7 percent in Washoe and the remaining cases spread across the other 15 counties. The daily positivity rate was at just 6.1 percent.

The cumulative positivity rate has now fallen to 6.9 percent in Washoe County. Washoe now has 8677 cases and 154 deaths.

At 988,019, Nevada is rapidly approaching one million tests. But that is tests, not the number of people tested since healthcare workers and first responders have been tested several times because of their exposure to the virus.