Virus numbers continue to improve as Nevada tops 75,000 cases

Nevada finished the week with 75,096 cases of the coronavirus, an increase of 2,290 over the previous Friday.

The number of deaths increased by 85 to 1,524.

But the overall positivity rate of those tested continues to drop. The daily rate was 8.2 percent as of Friday morning and the cumulative rate since the pandemic began was down to 10.1 percent.

There were 461 patients hospitalized as of Thursday, 358 of them confirmed to have the virus and 103 suspected. That is 23 fewer than Thursday.

Because the numbers have continued to approve, the final two counties, Elko and Clark, have been green-lighted to open their bars at midnight Sunday with restrictions including 50 percent capacity, masks for all employees, social distancing and tougher enforcement to ensure those rules are followed.

Washoe and Nye opened bars earlier this week under the same restrictions

No new deaths have been reported in Carson City, Churchill, Douglas or Lyon counties. They remain at eight, three, one and six respectively.

Carson has reported 47 new cases in the past week for a total of 522. Churchill added 23 for 136, Douglas 18 for 283 and Lyon 26 for a total of 403. All report positivity rates below 4 percent except Lyon which is at 5.1 percent.

Washoe’s positivity rate remains 7.4 percent with 589 new cases in the past week for a total of 8,461.