One new positive COVID-19 test, no new deaths reported for Whatcom County Sunday

The Whatcom County Health Department reported one new positive test for COVID-19 but no new deaths related to coronavirus on Sunday, May 24.

The county now has 369 confirmed cases and remained at 32 related deaths, according to health department statistics. The one new positive test means 13 cases in the last seven days. The previous week saw 20 cases. The last COVID-19 death was reported May 8.

The health department also reported 3,204 negative test results on Sunday, bringing the county’s total to 7,916 — meaning 95.5% of tests reported in Whatcom County have come back negative.

That number was 4,712 on Friday, May 22, when the Washington State Joint Information Center noted there were two issues affecting data reporting on testing in Whatcom County.

“The first is that about 11,000 negative lab results have not yet been entered into our data system. The second is that about 27% of negative test results do not have an assigned county. These two issues are impacting some counties disproportionately, including Skagit and Whatcom.

“The impact is an artificial elevation of the percent positive in those counties. DOH is working to resolve these two issues,” said the center, which is organizing the state coronavirus response.

St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported Sunday that it is treating one COVID-19 patient but has no other patients suspected of having coronavirus.

The Washington State Department of Health reports that Whatcom County has had 51 coronavirus-related hospitalizations during the pandemic. However, St. Joseph hospital reported to The Bellingham Herald on Thursday, May 21, it has had 58 hospitalizations to date.

More than 5.3 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with more than 343,000 deaths as of Sunday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 1.6 million confirmed cases — the most reported cases of any nation — with at least 97,049 deaths.

Overall, the Washington State Department of Health reported 19,585 cases, 1,055 deaths and 3,256 coronavirus-related hospitalizations as of Saturday evening. Approximately 5.4% of all confirmed cases in the state have resulted in death, while 6.2% of the 316,276 of the tests have come back positive for COVID-19.

Phased re-opening

Whatcom remains one of 14 Washington state counties that remain in Phase 1 of the state’s phased approach to re-opening businesses and modifying physical distancing measures.

Gov. Jay Inslee said Friday, May 22, that the state is making good progress as it continues to open, but that not all counties will reopen June 1.

“We are hard at work to determine next steps as we move closer to the May 31 expiration of my current order. As I have repeatedly said before, these are decisions that are driven by public health data and science, not the calendar,” he said.

“To be clear: this does not mean that we will be able to open every county in the state on June 1. Counties that continue to have large numbers of infections are not in a position to open up stores, restaurants and services safely,” he said.

Under Phase 1, high-risk populations are encouraged to stay home, some outdoor recreation (hunting, fishing, golf, boating and hiking) is allowed, but no public gatherings are allowed and only travel deemed essential is allowed. Businesses permitted to operate in Phase 1 include: essential businesses, existing construction projects, landscaping, automobile sales, curbside retail pickup, car washes and pet walkers.

Twenty-five counties have moved or are moving to Phase 2, which allows more outdoor recreation, gatherings of up to five people, limited non-essential travel and more businesses to open, though restrictions still remain.

To apply for a variance, counties must have an average of less than 10 new cases per 100,000 residents over a 14-day period. With 35 confirmed cases in the past 14 days and a population of more than 229,000, according to 2019 U.S. Census estimates, Whatcom County averaged 15.3 new cases per 100,000 people the past 14 days as of Friday.

The application process requires support from the local health officer, the local board of health, local hospitals, and the county commission/council.

Each county must demonstrate they have adequate local hospital bed capacity as well as adequate PPE supplies to keep health care workers safe. The application must include plans for:

▪ Making testing available and accessible to everyone in the county with symptoms.

▪ Staffing case investigations and contact tracing.

▪ Housing people in isolation or quarantine who can’t or don’t want to do so at home.

▪ Providing case management services to those in isolation and quarantine.

▪ Responding rapidly to outbreaks in congregate settings.

The variance requests are reviewed by the secretary of health, who can approve the plans as submitted, approve with modifications or deny the application. If circumstances change within the jurisdiction, the variance can be revoked.