Clark County Public Health: COVID-19 Spreading at Alarming Pace

Vancouver, WA — Clark County Public Health said today that “COVID-19 is spreading throughout our community at an alarming pace.” This week, the health department said the COVID-19 activity rate increased to more than 171 cases per 100,000 people over 14 days.

Disease transmission is occurring at an accelerated pace across the state, as well.

“As the holidays near, we’re concerned our case counts will continue to rise as people attend gatherings and spend more time indoors,” the health department said in a statement.

Health guidelines to disrupt this transmission in our community by taking simple steps to slow the spread of COVID-19 include the following:

• Wear a face covering anytime you’re around people you don’t live with (even friends and family).
• Maintain physical distancing.
• Stay home as much as possible.
• Limit the number, size and frequency of gatherings – and only attend gatherings that are essential.
• Wash your hands frequently.
• Stay home if you’re sick.

Tuesday COVID-19 update

• 166 new cases (5,783 cases to date)
• 4 new deaths (77 to date)
• 349 active cases
• Rate is 171.55 cases per 100,000 (up from 131.42 cases per 100,000 last week)
• 45 COVID-19 patients hospitalized
• 8 persons under investigation (PUIs) for COVID-19 hospitalized

The four deaths we’re reporting today are as follows:

• Man in his 70s with no underlying health conditions
• Man 80+ years old with underlying health conditions
• Man in his 70s with no underlying health conditions
• Woman in her 70s with underlying health conditions

The health department also put out this reminder about active cases: This reflects the number of confirmed cases who are currently in their isolation period. For most people, isolation is based on when symptoms began, not when they received the positive test result. Some individuals learn they are COVID-19 positive and only have a few days of isolation remaining.