Clark County reported 41 new COVID-19 cases and one death Tuesday with new data showing disease activity exceeding state guidelines for current restrictions.
A man age 80 or older with underlying conditions was the latest to die, according to Clark County Public Health. His death brings the total in Clark County to 264. Deaths are recorded 10 to 12 days after they occur.
Clark County Public Health reported that the county’s activity rate rose to 276.6 new cases per 100,000 over 14 days, up from 250 last week, while the rate of new hospital admissions rose to 5.4 per 100,000 over seven days, up from 3.8.
Those levels are above the threshold set by the state to allow the county to remain in Phase 3 of the Roadmap to Recovery program. The elevated levels have no immediate impact, however, because Gov. Jay Inslee has put the plan on hold for two weeks in the hopes that a fourth wave of infections has plateaued and make rollbacks unnecessary.
Disease activity this week has been lower than previous weeks. The total includes 32 cases confirmed by molecular, or PCR, testing, pushing that total to 22,190, and nine cases diagnosed by antigen testing, bringing that total to 1,118 to date, according to Public Health data.
Public Health said 74 new confirmed and probable cases had been reported as of Monday but routine data cleanup identified a number of cases to be transferred to other counties and states.
Positivity rate up
With the new count, the county has reported an average of about 83 new cases a day since Friday. The county had been reporting averages as high as 93 cases a day in the seven days ending April 30.
Testing data showed positivity rates of 7.51 percent — 597 positive tests out of 7,945 administered — in the April 18-24 period, up from 5.9 percent the previous week and well above a low of 2.44 percent in the March 7-13 period.
The number of active cases, which counts both confirmed and probable cases, fell to 677, down from 689 on Monday.
Hospitalizations rose Tuesday, with 42 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Clark County, up from 34 on Monday, and four people hospitalized awaiting test results, up from two on Monday.
