Clark County reported 30 new deaths due to COVID-19 this week, the most reported in a seven-day period since the pandemic began.
The deaths this week include one woman in her 20s, three men and one woman in their 50s, one man and two women in their 60s, three men and three women in their 70s and 11 men and five women age 80 or older, according to information released Thursday by Clark County Public Health.
The woman in her 20s who died is the second person in their 20s to die of COVID-19 in Clark County since the pandemic began, according to Public Health. To date, 697 people have died from COVID-19 in Clark County.
Deaths are added to the county’s total typically 10 to 12 days after they occur. Last week, 28 new deaths were reported. The previous record for deaths was 25 for the week ending Sept. 23, during the delta variant wave. The new deaths come as the highly contagious omicron variant continues to spread widely in Clark County.
New hospitalizations rose slightly this week and remain high, rising from 17.6 per 100,000 residents over seven days to 18 per 100,000 over seven days, according to Public Health.
As of Tuesday, 97.2 percent of Clark County’s hospital beds and 94.3 percent of its ICU beds were occupied. Hospitals reported that 115 beds — accounting for 27.4 percent of hospital beds and 34 percent of ICU beds — were occupied by people with or suspected of having COVID-19.
The COVID-19 activity rate, which measures new cases per 100,000 population over 14 days, decreased from 2,549.1 per 100,000 last week to 2,409.5 as of Thursday. Any rate higher than 200 is considered high by health officials.
It is the first time the COVID-19 activity rate has decreased since mid-December when the omicron variant first arrived in Clark County.
Public Health reported a total of 5,096 new cases this week, with 3,702 confirmed by molecular testing, for 63,979 to date, and 1,394 using antigen testing, for 13,356.
Combined, the new cases work out to an average of about 728 new cases per day, up from about 601 new cases per day last week. The actual number of new cases is likely even higher due to unreported at-home tests, according to Clark County Public Health officials.
The number of active cases still in their isolation period decreased to 6,003 this week, down from 6,706 last week, according to Public Health.
The Washington State Department of Health reported that as of Jan. 28, 68.1 percent of Clark County residents age 12 or older were fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
In Clark County, 19 percent of kids age 5 to 11 are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 with the Pfizer pediatric vaccine, and 27 percent have received at least one dose, according to Public Health data.
While breakthrough cases are occurring due to the highly contagious omicron variant, getting vaccinated remains the best way to protect yourself from severe symptoms, according to Public Health officials. Hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID-19 occur disproportionately among the unvaccinated. More than 450 people have died from COVID-19 in the past year while vaccines have been available. Of those deaths, 76 percent were unvaccinated.
