Clark County Public Health confirmed six new COVID-19 cases Tuesday morning. The county now has 116 confirmed cases.
The virus death toll in Clark County remains at six. Close to 100 of the county’s cases have been confirmed in the last week. Clark County’s recent rise in cases has been attributed to increased testing and community spread, according to Clark County Public Health Officer Dr. Alan Melnick.
Public Health has received a total of 879 tests.
Clark County has the same number of cases as Multnomah County, but has four more deaths than Multnomah, according to the Oregon Health Authority. The largest cohort of cases (29) in Clark County has been people in their 40s. The second largest cohort (22) has been people in their 50s.
More than 30 percent of Washington’s confirmed cases have been between 40 and 59, and close to 55 percent of the deaths have been people 80 and older. Another 39 percent of deaths were people between 60 and 79.
According to the Seattle Times, Washington saw a decrease in hospitalizations for patients with COVID-19-like illness for the first time in a month. Last week the state saw only 193 hospitalizations for COVID-19-like illness, the lowest total since the week of March 7, when 126 cases were reported.
The week of March 21, the state saw 251 of these hospitalizations for patients exhibiting fever or chills, shortness of breath, coughs and difficulty breathing, all considered COVID-19-like illness.
The prior week, the state saw 226 of these hospitalizations. Clark County’s two hospitals saw similar upward trends in COVID-19-like illness during the same time period.
This data should be taken with a grain of salt, according to the Washington Department of Health. The statistics might include patients later found to not have COVID-19, and they can miss patients who do have COVID-19, but don’t visit the hospital for treatment. It also is missing data from 16 percent of the state’s emergency departments.
“It is a little bit of good news,” department of health spokeswoman Amy Reynolds told the Seattle Times.
