Clark County reports 1,171 new COVID-19 cases in one weekFree

Clark County reported 1,171 new COVID-19 cases since Aug. 12, continuing a trend that has seen disease activity surge by 476 percent in one month.

On Thursday, Clark County Public Health reported one death, a woman in her 60s with underlying conditions, bringing the death toll from COVID-19 to 301.

The new cases have pushed the rate of infections per 100,000 residents over two weeks to 288.7 as of Thursday, up 51 percent from the previous rate of 191.1 on Aug. 12, continuing a trend that started after activity rates fell to 50.1 as of July 22.

Public Health data shows 966 new confirmed cases, for a total of 27,466 to date, and 205 new probable cases, for a total of 2,212 to date. Combined, the new cases work out to an average of about 167 new cases a day, up from about 138 cases last week. The new daily case average is 1,173 percent higher than the average of about 13 new cases a day reported July 1.

Data is not immediately available on how many of the new cases were in people who had been vaccinated or which variant each individual had contracted.

The new cases come as the delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, dominates new cases statewide. Exact estimates for Clark County aren’t available, but the Washington Department of Public Health reports that its testing shows the delta variant accounts for 95 percent of all cases in Washington.

The latest data from Public Health shows that since Feb. 1, about the time vaccinations began, through Aug. 5, the county has had 587 so-called breakthrough cases, or 5.78 percent of the cases reported in that period. Of those cases, 359 showed symptoms, 39 were hospitalized and five died. Those deaths accounted for 4.5 percent of the 110 deaths reported in that period.

The number of active cases rose by 214 this week to 1,284, according to Public Health.

Hospital admissions continued to rise over the past week, with a rate of 9.4 new hospital admissions per 100,000 population over seven days, up from 6.4 per 100,000 last week, according to Public Health data. As of Tuesday, 91 of Clark County’s hospital beds were occupied by people with or suspected of having COVID-19, up 30 percent from the 70 reported as of Aug. 10. That total accounts for 15.7 percent of the county’s hospital beds.

Public Health also reported that 81.9 percent of the county’s hospital beds were occupied as of Tuesday, slightly higher than last week, and that 90.9 percent of the county’s ICU beds were occupied, the same as last week.