Clark County adds six new COVID-19 casesFree

Clark County Public Health confirmed six new COVID-19 cases Wednesday morning, upping the county’s total to 566 confirmed cases.

Daily case counts have remained low this week — with eight cases confirmed Monday and two cases confirmed Tuesday — which has led to optimism at Clark County Public Health that the state Department of Health will approve the county’s second Phase 2 application.

The first Phase 2 application was submitted May 22, but it was shelved a day later due to a large coronavirus outbreak at Firestone Pacific Foods in Vancouver. Late Tuesday night, the county submitted a new application at the request of Washington Secretary of Health John Wiesman.

Clark County does not meet all of the metrics for entering Phase 2, which would allow more businesses to reopen. However, Clark County Health Officer Dr. Alan Melnick said he thinks his department’s handling of the Firestone outbreak will help the county’s chance of being approved for Phase 2.

Melnick noted that the Firestone outbreak has so far not caused wide community spread of COVID-19. That response will be judged by the department of health.

“Outbreaks can happen,” Melnick told The Columbian on Tuesday. “I think we demonstrated that we can respond to an outbreak.”

So far, there are 132 confirmed cases linked to Firestone. Of that number, 79 are Firestone employees — 72 who live in Clark County — and 53 are close contacts of employees, all living in Clark County.

Nearly 330 people connected to Firestone have been tested for coronavirus. More than 10,641 people have been tested for the virus in Clark County.

Clark County has 25 COVID-19 deaths, a number that has remained the same since May 15. Five people were hospitalized for the virus in Clark County as of Wednesday.