No new Whatcom coronavirus deaths reported Saturday, capping week with five deaths
The Whatcom County Health Department reported no new positive cases or deaths related to the new coronavirus, Saturday, May 9.
However, there have been five deaths reported in the past three days, after the health department reported four coronavirus-related deaths on Thursday, May 7, and one death on Friday, May 8 — the first new deaths linked to the respiratory illness since April 28. The county has now had 32 deaths tied to COVID-19.
No additional county residents had a COVID-19 test returned positive, the health department reported Saturday, keeping the total of people diagnosed with the illness to 329, since the first case in the country was reported March 10.
The health department also reported 37 negative test results Saturday, bringing the county’s total to 3,086.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported to The Herald Saturday that it currently has one confirmed COVID-19 patient and it is treating six patients whose tests are pending. On Friday the hospital reported that it had no confirmed COVID-19 patients, the first day without a COVID-19 at the hospital since its first positive inpatient was confirmed on March 17.
After reporting 18 new cases among Lummi Nation community members last week, the Lummi Public Health Department reports it hasn’t seen any new positive COVID-19 tests since Saturday, May 2. A Facebook post Thursday afternoon reported the number of positive tests remains at 40, with 407 negative test results, two tests that were indeterminate and three tests pending. Of the 40 people who tested positive, 22 have since recovered.
The Whatcom Unified Command, the multi-governmental agency that’s directing local pandemic response, has previously told The Bellingham Herald that the Whatcom health department does not track the number of recoveries because it is not a healthcare provider.
Shuksan Healthcare Center, the Bellingham nursing facility that was the site of a coronavirus outbreak announced March 22, reported Thursday that the 23 longer-term residents who previously tested positive for COVID-19 have “stabilized.” The facility says it is still treating three residents who tested positive for the respiratory illness before they were admitted in a separate wing.
More than 3.9 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with more than 276,000 deaths as of Saturday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 1.2 million confirmed cases — the most reported cases of any nation — with at least 75,477 deaths.
Overall, the Washington State Department of Health reported 16,388 cases and 905 deaths Friday afternoon.