Almost two weeks ago, the agency leading Washington state’s response to the coronavirus outbreak reassured Southwest Washington’s highest-ranking lawmaker.
Clark County, at the time home to nine positive cases of COVID-19 and three deaths, would move near the top of the list for resupplies of protective gear and testing kits.
“I would anticipate you would receive at least part of your order,” wrote Robert Ezelle, director of the Washington Military Department’s Emergency Management Division, in response to the question from U.S. Rep. Jamie Herrera Beutler, R-Washington.
That was March 21. Clark County by then had tested just 230 people. At the time, the county sought 6,500 test kits from the state.
Related: Oregon Is Burning Through PPE, Putting Health Workers Treating COVID-19 At Risk
Despite being placed as a priority on par with counties near Puget Sound — one of the earliest epicenters for COVID-19 — Clark County has received a fraction of the supplies it has requested. The county had asked for 120,000 testing kits by April 1 and received less than 500 total. Meanwhile, the number of positive cases has risen above 130 and three more people have died.
“It’s beyond frustrating that we haven’t seen more [protective equipment] and testing kits following the commitments I’ve been given by those officials,” Herrera Beutler wrote in an email. “Until every rock is turned over, I’m not resting while the communities I represent still lack the protection and tools they need to continue to fight this crisis.”
When it comes to stocks of personal protective equipment – or PPE – the shipments are so bare “it’s barely worth even mentioning,” said Eric Frank, a spokesman for the Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency.
About 1,700 gloves have come from the state, according Clark County Councilor John Blom, compared to 120,000 gloves donated by local school districts, businesses and organizations. He called the disparity “frustrating.”
“It’s laughable,” Blom said. “If it wasn’t for other groups in our community stepping up and sharing what they have, I don’t know what we’d do.”
A spokesperson for the Washington Department of Health said the state itself is competing for resources.
"Due to the global demand we still are not able to receive enough PPE to meet 100% of the needs of our local and state partners," Danielle Koenig said. "We are working diligently with our statewide distribution process partners and using the best medical data available to make informed decision on where to distribute this PPE."
The current coronavirus outbreak is expected to crest in the next three weeks, according to recent modeling by the University of Washington Medicine virology lab.
Although more testing labs have come online and helped deliver more results in Clark County, resources like testing swabs remain hard to find.
Subsequently, tests are often reserved for people who show symptoms. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week reported more findings of people spreading the virus without symptoms.
In lieu of robust testing, public health officials have looked at other data to gauge the virus’ spread locally. For example, Washington tracks hospital visits by people who have a combination of fever, chills, coughs and shortness of breath. In Clark, Cowlitz, Klickitat and Lewis counties, those visits have spiked most of the weeks in March. It’s not clear how many of those patients had contracted COVID-19 or some other illness.
Those visits did decrease last week, but the region’s public health officer, Dr. Alan Melnick, said they are still above normal. He said public health is using that information alongside testing data to plan for the peak ahead.
“We need to be able to look at what’s happening in terms of what the capacity is at our emergency rooms and hospitals over time to see what the impact might be,” he said.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated Danielle Koenig's job title. OPB regrets the error.
