Officials are investigating the COVID-19 outbreak of 14 people at Vancouver Hospital

Health officials are investigating a COVID-19 outbreak at a Vancouver, Washington hospital where 10 patients and four staff on a single floor tested positive.

Five of the 14 cases at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center were fully vaccinated, and the patients who showed symptoms are unvaccinated, officials said.

COVID-19 cases are increasing across the country as the delta variant of the virus spreads. The PeaceHealth exposure samples will be sent to the Washington Department of Health to test for the Delta variant.

“While COVID-19 activity in Clark County has decreased in the past few weeks, the virus is still circulating and we still have a large portion of our community that is not vaccinated,” said Dr. Alan Melnick, Clark County Health Commissioner and Director of Public Health. “The COVID-19 vaccines are very effective at preventing infections, but they are not perfect.”

Clark County has 24,680 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 161 active cases as of July 15. More than 230,000 residents were fully vaccinated on July 12.

The hospital is temporarily restricting visitors, officials said. The floor is also blocked for new patients.

Infection prevention specialists at PeaceHealth and Clark County Public Health are investigating the outbreak, said Dr. Lawrence Neville, chief medical officer.

“This situation is an unfortunate reminder that while most of our country is fully reopened, this deadly virus remains,” he said.

– April ruby; [email protected]; @AprilMRuby