More Clark County tests are negative for coronavirusFree

More local test results for the COVID-19 virus were received Sunday, and none were positive for the virus.

According to Clark County Public Health’s web page, four people have now tested negative, one has tested positive, and four are still awaiting test results.

An additional five people are under supervision by health authorities because they recently traveled to areas with outbreaks of coronavirus.

Results of the one positive local test thus far were received Friday night. That patient, a man in his 70s, had called 911 on March 1 to report difficulty breathing. He was attended to by paramedics for Clark County Fire District 6, which serves the Hazel Dell/Felida/Salmon Creek area, and was taken to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, where he was receiving treatment using isolation protocols. His medical condition has not been released. The two paramedics who treated him are in voluntary isolation at home and are not sick, fire district officials said Saturday.

In an update posted Sunday afternoon, the state Department of Health reported 136 cases of the virus have been confirmed in Washington, with 18 deaths. Most of those who died were residents of a nursing home in King County. No one in Clark County has died, according to the state’s website.

Oregon reported 15 cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, mostly in the Portland area.

Public health officials are encouraging people to wash their hands frequently to guard against getting the virus, which is transmitted by droplets, such as from an infected person’s sneeze or cough. It is less contagious than the measles. However, unlike that disease, there is no vaccine to prevent COVID-19.