After a spike in coronavirus cases throughout much of the summer, daily new cases are dropping statewide. The state reported 320 new daily cases, Sunday. That is more than a thousand fewer than the highest daily total on July 15. 1,447 people tested positive for the virus, that day. The 7-day average of new cases is 460. That number was 1,037 for the last week of July.

"The health care infrastructure within Nevada remains in good condition and the downward trajectory of COVID-19 hospitalization continues," Caleb Cage, Director of the Nevada State COVID-19 Response said.

Officials say the state is currently testing more people for the virus than is recommended. Earlier in the summer, there were so many people getting tested that it created a backlog for labs, and slowed down the turn-around time to provide results. The amount of time to complete those tests is also getting shorter.

"At the most, we had a turn-around time of anywhere from four to five days and now that's around two to three days," Julia Peek, Deputy Administrator of Community Health Services for the Department of Health and Human Services said. "Granted, it varies based on the lab. Especially, if that has to be sent to an out-of-state lab."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says six percent of COVID-19 deaths in the United States did not include underlying health conditions. The CDC says the other 94 percent of deaths had an average of 2.6 other health conditions. Those numbers have led to widespread misinformation regarding the dangers of COVID-19. A post has been making the rounds on Twitter and Facebook that downplay the severity of the pandemic.

On Monday, there were 182,622 total deaths due to COVID-19. The overwhelming majority of these cases had underlying issues but they were in addition to COVID-19, not instead of it. The CDC has not changed its total number of deaths.

"If COVID-19 is present in the patient at the time of death, that COVID-19 is listed as a contributing factor," Cage said. "COVID-19 is one of those things that can speed up the process for people that are already failing and passing away."

Officials say that determining the cause of death. For instance, if someone dies from pneumonia, the question is what caused the person to get pneumonia. Health Districts and medical examiners are required to list COVID-19 as a contributing factor if the patient has the virus.

"The CDC, state and local health departments have all struggled with how to identify cause of death, so I think this report helps us look at how we're going to collect that information going forward," Peek said.

Another rumor that has been circulating for months is that hospitals are inflating the number of COVID-related deaths to get extra funding from the government. Officials say hospitals do not get paid for deaths but they do get paid for treatment. The CARES Act does provide additional funding to hospitals to care for patients. That can be up to 20 percent per patient for Medicare reimbursement once the patient is discharged from hospital.

"We also did get a good-sized allocation of the CARES Act relief fund," Peek said. "None of our dollars are going to a hospital in that capacity."

"Hospitals are paid for treating patients for COVID and it could be those paid sources are private-paid, they could be Medicare, Medicaid or insurance," Cage said.

Washoe County has 139 deaths due to COVID-19. It has made two changes to deaths that it originally ruled as coronavirus deaths. After a review, it reversed those and determined they were the result of other health problems.

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