VANCOUVER, Wash. — Clark County Public Health (CCPH) reported 277 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday. This comes amid a string of record daily case counts in the Portland area and throughout the Pacific Northwest.
In the past month, cases in Clark County have increased by 50%, with more than 2,000 new cases during that time. In the past week, the county has averaged more than 100 cases per day, the health department said.
On Tuesday, CCHP said the dramatic surge in cases is hampering its ability to quickly reach people who've tested positive for the coronavirus, preventing contact tracers from identifying and notifying close contacts in a timely manner.
As a result, the health department is modifying its coronavirus response by shifting staff resources to identifying "priority locations" including schools, long-term care facilities, the jail and food processing plants where exposures may have occurred.
Staff will no longer identify and monitor individual close contacts of confirmed cases.
“We believe these changes will allow us to more quickly interview cases, ensure they are isolated while contagious, and identify priority locations that may need our help to prevent or mitigate an outbreak,” said Dr. Alan Melnick, Public Health director and county health officer.
CCPH will continue to interview everyone who tests positive for the coronavirus in order to identify potential exposures at priority locations.
If an exposure occurred at a priority location, CCPH will work with the facility to identify close contacts and provide guidance on quarantine and testing.
Those who test positive for the coronavirus will be provided with instructions on how to isolate until they are no longer contagious and will receive daily text messages during their isolation period through a secure system called Sara Alert. They will also be provided a handout about quarantine and will be asked to notify their close contacts that they may have been exposed to COVID-19.
“In many instances cases are already notifying their close contacts and doing so more quickly than we’re able to,” Melnick said. “With the help of the community, we can continue to identify and notify close contacts who need to quarantine.”
Everyone who tests positive will be instructed to isolate at home until they are no longer contagious. Those with symptoms can end isolation when they’ve been fever-free for at least 24 hours without using fever-reducing medicine, other symptoms are improving and at least 10 days have passed since symptoms began
Those who test positive but do not have symptoms can end isolation when at least 10 days have passed since the date of their first positive test.