Clark County reports 49 new COVID-19 cases, no new deaths as activity ebbsFree

Clark County recorded 49 new COVID-19 cases and no new deaths on Thursday as a declining trend in disease activity continues.

The new cases push the total number of COVID-19 cases in Clark County to 17,706 to date, according to data from Clark County Public Health. There has been an average of about 51 new cases per day reported since Friday, down from an average of 77 cases per day the previous week and far below a peak average of about 180 cases per day in the first week of January.

Deaths have also declined this week. No deaths were reported Thursday, leaving the county’s number of COVID-19 deaths at 204, according to Public Health data. There have been two deaths reported since Friday, down from 20 deaths reported the previous week and 16 deaths the week before that.

The number of active cases fell to 376 from 387 on Wednesday, counting people with COVID-19 still in their isolation period.

Hospitalizations held steady, with 37 people hospitalized with COVID-19, down from 38 on Wednesday, and 14 people hospitalized awaiting test results, up from 11 on Wednesday, according to Public Health data.

The percentage of occupied ICU beds was 85.9 percent on Thursday, up from 79.7 on Wednesday, according to Public Health data.

Clark County and other counties in Southwest Washington remain in Phase 1 of the state’s Roadmap to Recovery reopening plan, but that could change Friday, when the state is set to release updated data reflecting more recent activity.

The state requires regions to show improvements in three of four metrics: A decrease of 10 percent or more in the 14-day rate of COVID-19 cases per 100,000, a decrease of 10 percent of more in new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 over a 14-day period, an ICU occupancy rate under 90 percent over seven days, and a positivity rate of under 10 percent for COVID-19 tests over seven days.

In data as of Jan. 28, as the post-holiday surge in activity was just starting to ebb, the Southwest Region met only one of the four metrics, for ICU bed occupancy. Clark County shares the Southwest region with Cowlitz, Klickitat, Skamania and Wahkiakum counties.