Clark County declared a public health emergency Friday after two new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed locally in a married couple, who live in two different long-term care facilities. The cases are a man and a woman in their 80s.
The public health emergency and confirmed cases were discussed at an afternoon press conference at the Public Service Center in downtown Vancouver. The majority of Washington’s 37 deaths from COVID-19 have been elderly people who lived in long-term care facilities in King County.
“My concern is the elderly population, who are most at risk from complications of this,” Clark County Public Health Officer Dr. Alan Melnick said.
PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center Chief Medical Officer Lawrence Neville said he wouldn’t comment on the latest patients’ conditions.
One confirmed case lives at Van Mall Retirement in Vancouver, and the other lives at an adult family home in Clark County. Public Health is not disclosing more information about the adult family home because it has a small number of residents, and disclosing more information could identify the patient.
Van Mall Retirement did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
There are now three confirmed cases in Clark County, which includes a man in his 70s who was confirmed positive March 6. All three people are receiving treatment at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver.
“While COVID-19 is new to us, protecting caregivers and other patients from contagious diseases is not new to this hospital,” Neville said. “This is something we’ve trained for for years and have a great deal of experience.”
Several first responders, who treated these two new cases early in the week, were potentially exposed to COVID-19. Melnick said they will be isolated for two weeks but have not yet shown symptoms of the virus.
The emergency declaration allows Clark County to streamline some processes around purchasing medical supplies in response to COVID-19, Clark County Councilor Temple Lentz said. For example, the county can order supplies from a known, trusted source without having to go through a multiple-bid process.
“It smooths the process for things we need more quickly,” Lentz said in a phone interview after the press conference.
Melnick said Public Health is quarantining all residents at the adult family home due to its size and actively monitoring residents for COVID-19 symptoms. Public Health is identifying close contacts at Van Mall Retirement and will quarantine those contacts, and also conduct active monitoring. If residents show symptoms of COVID-19, they will be tested, Melnick said.
Neville announced PeaceHealth will not allow visitors in its medical center starting this morning.
There are a few exceptions to that rule. You are an allowed visitor if: you are there to support a patient with mobility challenges or discharge instructions, you are the parent of a minor patient, you are a designated support person for emergency department patients or you are a support person for end-of-life patients.
Neville said it’s especially important to keep PeaceHealth staff healthy so the hospital can provide necessary care. If too many staff members get sick, the hospital could be strained beyond its capacity.
“We do expect that there will be more cases in our community,” Neville said. “It’s really critical that we take additional measures to protect our patients, our caregivers and our community.”
Vancouver declares emergency
In coordination with Clark County Public Health, Vancouver City Manager Eric Holmes executed a Declaration of Civil Emergency on Friday in response to COVID-19, according to a news release.
The declaration will be reviewed by the Vancouver City Council at its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday. The declaration will help the city support local and state public health authorities in the response effort.
Vancouver is also partially activating its Emergency Operations Center to help coordinate its response efforts and is participating in a Joint Information Center established by the Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency.
Starting today, the city will implement the following changes to its operations and services as preventative measures to limit the spread of coronavirus among employees and the community:
* Cancellation of all city-permitted public events with planned or forecasted attendance of 250 or more.
* Closure of the Water Resources Education Center, 4600 S.E. Columbia Way, Vancouver.
* Closure of the Luepke Center, 1009 E. McLoughlin Blvd., Vancouver.
* Closure of the Trapadero II and Sadri’s Summit climbing wall at Firstenburg Community Center, 700 N.E. 136th Ave., Vancouver.
* Suspension of all recreation classes and programs that cater to vulnerable populations.
* Enhanced sanitation of all public buildings and facilities.
* Suspension of nonessential inspection activities in occupied homes and businesses.
* Modification of water shutoff policies to assure sanitation resources in homes.
* Suspension of all nonessential public meetings.
* Suspension of all meetings of 20 or more in city facilities.
* Suspension of all event and meeting reservations at city facilities.
* Suspension of nonessential travel and training for city employees (including where trainers are brought in from outside the organization).
* Advisory to neighborhood associations to suspend meetings.
Criminal justice impacts
The Vancouver Police Department announced Friday evening that it was implementing several steps that adhere to social-distancing guidelines, including doing follow-up investigations by phone, suspending ride-alongs and barring gatherings in its community rooms. The police department will respond to all calls for service and will continue to respond in-person to calls where there are life-safety issues or if the call for service cannot be handled over the phone.
Clark County Prosecutor Tony Golik said his office took steps Friday to release nonviolent offenders from the Clark County Jail to ensure the facility has space to house defendants who pose an immediate risk to the community. The move is in response to potential health impacts from COVID-19.
Golik said his attorneys went through the cases that have scheduled court hearings and are set for trial to identify instances where an inmate could be released on supervision. About 60 orders of release were signed late Friday, he said. It will be up to the jail on how and when those inmates are released.
The felony and misdemeanor cases primarily involve drug and property crimes, and the bail amounts set in them were fairly low, Golik said.
