Clark County’s recent COVID-19 activity declines

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COVID-19 activity in Clark County decreased in nearly every metric in the latest update.

Clark County Public Health’s March 16 report included 38.5 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population over seven days, down from the 40.9 per 100,000 reported the prior week.

The recent statewide case rate also dropped though it remains higher than Clark County’s rate. As of March 16, Washington had 51.7 cases per 100,000 population, slightly down from 51.9 per 100,000 the prior week.

Recent case rates lag behind the most recent counts of cases. The health department’s most recent case rate was based on activity from Feb. 28 to March 6.

The county’s weekly count of COVID-19 cases was the same as the prior week. Clark County reported 195 new COVID-19 cases between March 9 and March 16, which was the same amount of cases reported between March 2 and March 9.

In total, there have been 112,441 confirmed and probable cases in Clark County since the outbreak began, although that number does not include at-home tests, which often go unreported.



Clark County Public Health’s March 16 report included two additional confirmed COVID-19 deaths and three deaths suspected to be due to the disease since its report the prior week. On March 9, the health department reported seven confirmed and three suspected COVID-19 deaths.

The five additional COVID-19 deaths bring Clark County’s total to 1,062, which includes 883 confirmed and 179 suspected deaths.

The number of COVID-19 patients occupying hospital beds in Clark County dropped in the latest data. As of March 16, 15.3% of beds had either patients with confirmed COVID-19 or patients awaiting test results, less than the 19.6% reported on March 9. The number of intensive care unit (ICU) beds occupied by COVID-19 patients and patients awaiting test results landed at 10.4%, compared to 20.4% from the prior week.

New COVID-19 hospital admissions dropped in the latest data. In its March 16 report, the health department reported 4.4 admissions per 100,000 population in the past seven days, down from 5 admissions per 100,000 population reported the prior week.

Clark County’s share of COVID-19 cases and deaths statewide stayed about the same in the latest data. According to the Washington State Department of Health, the county had about 5.8% of cases and 6.7% of deaths in Washington.