Silver State Times

Nevada finds itself at 574 deaths per million making it 29th in the country when it comes to COVID-related deaths, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

 The project found that when it comes to COVID-19 data, people have been looking at decontextualized data, which is causing hysteria like children staying out of school and businesses shutting down. 

 Nevada’s deaths and hospitalizations have not followed the same path as case increases and, instead, the state has a daily death rate of 7 per million, which isn’t anywhere near increased case numbers.  

“Nevada clocks in at roughly 1/2 the death rate of Massachusetts, and 1/3 that of New York.” the commentary states. “During its summer surge, while hospitalizations reached 2/3's those of Massachusetts, and 40% those of New York, deaths remained mercifully low, with daily deaths/million only 7. Now, despite seeing a case "surge, hospitalizations are all but flat, while deaths are declining. 

“With an unemployment rate that is 50th in the nation, behind only Hawaii, there is hardly a state that has greater need of being able to embrace some kind or relaxation of social distancing. Given the economy's almost complete reliance on travel and entertainment, if forced to continue through mid-year with restrictions, which even if people can travel, make them not want to, it is hard to see how Nevada will not end up seeing higher deaths due to other causes than coronavirus, most particularly amongst the young.” 

Since Sept. 15, there has been a significant increase in testing for COVID-19 at 55 percent, which has also led to an increase in positive cases, leading many to assume the country is heading into a third wave of infections and deaths. 

Emily Burns with The Pragmatist writes that it’s important to put the new numbers into context so that people will make wise decisions regarding what to do about the pandemic. She writes that in May, cases were tracked at nearly the same as hospitalizations. She notes that deaths and hospitalizations are more reliable data when tracking than cases are. 

With COVID-19 testing up 70 percent since the second wave, Burns points out that the surge in testing is responsible for the increased number of new cases seen across the nation, not an increased infection rate many have been led to believe.