Clark County COVID-19 rate continues to surge

PeaceHealth officials expect ‘fifth wave’ to peak Sept. 4

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The activity of COVID-19 in Clark County isn’t showing signs of slowing down yet, as the latest numbers show the recent case rate increased by nearly 38 percent.

Clark County Public Health’s weekly COVID-19 update on Aug. 26 showed a recent case rate of 397.4 cases per 100,000 population in the past 14 days, up from 288.7 cases per 100,000. The rate has been increasing for five straight weeks after hitting a record-low rate of about 50 per 100,000 in July.

Between Aug. 19 and Aug. 26, Clark County Public Health reported 1,016 additional confirmed COVID-19 cases and 159 more suspected cases, based on antigen testing. That puts the county’s total at 28,482 confirmed cases and 2,371 probable cases since the outbreak began. There were 1,351 active COVID-19 cases as of the report, which are ones still in the isolation period.

Hospitalization rates of Clark County COVID-19 patients didn’t change compared to the week prior, as the health department reported there were 9.4 new admissions per 100,000 population in the past seven days on Aug. 26. There were 99 COVID-19 patients hospitalized as of the update, with those patients occupying 17.1 percent of hospital beds in the county.

The latest weekly data showed an uptick in COVID-19 deaths, with four confirmed COVID-19 deaths reported Aug. 26. The deaths included a woman older than 80, a woman in her 70s, a man in his 70s, and a woman in her 50s, all of whom had underlying health conditions.

Clark County has seen 305 total COVID-19 deaths, including 273 confirmed and 32 suspected, the health department reported.

The county’s share of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths statewide has remained about the same. Washington State Department of Health data from Aug. 26 showed the county had roughly 5.8 percent of confirmed cases and about 5 percent of deaths.

Plateau of COVID-19 activity expected in early September

The day prior, officials from PeaceHealth provided an update on their hospitals’ efforts to handle the current wave of COVID-19 activity. 

As of the Aug. 25 briefing, there were 69 COVID-19 patients at PeaceHealth Southwest, which included 18 people in intensive care units, and 46 COVID-19 patients at PeaceHealth St. John in Longview, said PeaceHealth Columbia Network Chief Medical Officer Lawrence Neville. The total at St. John was “extraordinary” considering usual patient totals land at around 100 people, he said.

PeaceHealth Southwest was at around 92 to 95 percent of its patient capacity, Neville said, though he said surge plans are in place to increase capacity should the need arise.

The delta variant’s greater contagiousness led to the increase of hospitalizations, Neville said. Of those hospitalized with COVID-19, 95 percent were not vaccinated, while the other 5 percent were breakthrough cases.

“Unfortunately we don’t think we’re quite through this fifth wave of COVID yet,” Neville said, explaining current modeling led officials to believe the disease would hit peak activity on Sept. 4. He anticipates the peak will lead to 90 patients at PeaceHealth Southwest with the disease.

Neville said the hospital has stopped non-essential, non-emergency surgeries to free up capacity. PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center Emergency Department Medical Director Jason Hanley added his hospital had set up a tent to increase waiting room capacity for the department.



“The last few months have been as difficult as any,” Hanley said. “Not only us here at PeaceHealth, but throughout the region, every hospital is near full capacity.”

Hanley said COVID-19 patients have longer stays at the hospital than typical admissions, and require more resources. He said roughly 10 percent of patients in the emergency department were COVID-19-related, though overall volumes were about what the department generally expects.

In general, PeaceHealth Southwest was holding patients longer in the emergency department, slowing down the number of patients it’s able to see.

“It’s very atypical for patients to wait hours like they are currently to be seen in our department,” Hanley said, adding assurance that PeaceHealth nurses were triaging the sickest patients to receive care sooner.

Though he encouraged those with real medical emergencies to still go to the hospital, those who don’t believe they’re experiencing an emergency should go through their primary care doctor or to an urgent care facility rather than his department, Hanley said. 

He encouraged those seeking COVID-19 tests to use other avenues other than the emergency department.

Hanley said PeaceHealth has started up a program that returns patients to their homes with oxygen if they don’t require additional resources from the hospital. Those patients will then follow up with their primary care provider or through a virtual visit with hospital staff the next day. Hanley said the program is similar to others at hospitals across the country.

Neville said PeaceHealth has a goal to get all of its caregivers vaccinated by the end of the month. He said the Food and Drug Administration’s full approval for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine “turned the corner” on vaccination efforts. He said the approval and a state mandate in Washington for health care workers to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18 will motivate caregivers to get vaccinated. He noted there are medical and religious exemptions allowed, which will be screened through a “rigorous and fair process.”

Neville expects COVID-19 activity to plateau for a few days after hitting its peak in Clark County, after which disease activity would decrease.

“We’ve got a few weeks ahead of us where things are going to be really all hands on deck as we take care of our community, and then the numbers suggest it should start slowing down and reversing,” Neville said. 

County Council extends virtual meetings

Given the COVID-19 activity in the county, the Clark County Council decided it will keep its meetings virtual through the end of September.

A release from the county stated at the end of the month councilors will re-evaluate the situation to see whether or not it will open meetings for in-person attendance. Previously the virtual-only setup ran through the end of August after the council agreed to keep meetings remote when disease activity started to increase.

County council also canceled meetings in the first half of September, with the next meetings starting the week of Sept. 13, the release stated. Meeting agendas, participation instructions and a public comment form are available online at clark.wa.gov/councilors/clark-county-council-meetings.