Minorities continue to see a disproportionate impact of COVID-19 in Whatcom County

Minorities continue to see a disproportionate impact of the new coronavirus in Whatcom County, according to detailed numbers released weekly on Sundays by the health department.

Hispanics now represent 18% of the confirmed COVID-19 cases in the county, though 9% of the county identifies as Hispanic. That’s up from 15% of cases May 17.

Residents who identify as American Indian or Alaska Native, which represent 3% of the county’s population, now make up 12% of cases, up from 11% May 17.

According to the Sunday data, 69% of the confirmed cases in Whatcom County are in white residents, down from 73% two weeks ago. Eighty-two percent of the county’s population identifies as white.

Also on Sunday, May 31, the Whatcom County Health Department reported no new positive cases or deaths related to the new coronavirus for the first time since May 22.

Overall, the county has had 395 residents test positive for COVID-19 during the pandemic, according to health department data. The number of coronavirus-related deaths remained steady at 33 for the fifth-straight day.

The county health department also reported Sunday 125 more negative test results, bringing the total to 8,135 — 95.4% of the 8,530 test results that the county reported have come back negative.

St. Joseph hospital reported to The Bellingham Herald Sunday that it is treating two patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 and have no other patients suspected of having the respiratory illness.

According to county data, all 33 deaths in Whatcom have been from residents aged 60-99, with a majority (40.7%) from the 90-99 age group.

The most affected age group to test positive for COVID-19 is adults aged 30-39 (13.9%), followed by adults aged 20-29 (13.6%) and adults 80-89 (13.2%).

More than 6.1 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with more than 370,000 deaths as of Sunday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 1.7 million confirmed cases — the most reported cases of any nation — with at least 102,785 deaths.

Overall, the Washington State Department of Health reported 21,349 cases and 1,118 deaths as of Saturday evening.

Phased reopening

Whatcom County is one of 12 Washington state counties eligible to apply to move to Phase 2 after they meet new benchmarks announced Friday, May 29, by Gov. Jay Inslee.

“The Health Department is already working on the application, and I expect to sign it and submit to the state Secretary of Health on Monday,” Whatcom County Executive Satpal Sidhu told The Bellingham Herald Friday.

As reported by The Bellingham Herald Friday, new standards for controlling infection spread and the ability to diagnose and treat patients include:

▪ Fewer than 25 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population over 14 days. As of Monday, May 25, 2020, Whatcom County had 37 new cases over the previous two weeks, or 16.4 cases per 100,000 population. By Friday, that number had dropped to 16 cases per 100,000. With no new cases reported Sunday and with the Friday-Saturday numbers, Whatcom County remains at 39 new cases in the last 14 days, for 17.3 cases per 100,00.

▪ Flat or decreasing hospitalizations for lab-confirmed COVID-19. St. Joseph hospital reported Friday and Saturday that it was treating one patient who tested positive for COVID-19. On Sunday it reported two patients who tested positive.

▪ Fewer than 80% of licensed hospital beds occupied by patients and fewer than 10% of beds occupied by suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases. “We can affirm our readiness to move to Phase 2 and are actively coordinating that affirmation with the county,” hospital spokeswoman Bev Mayhew told The Herald on Thursday, May 28.

▪ Capacity to perform an average number of tests per day during the past week at a rate of 50 times the number of COVID-19 cases.

▪ One or fewer outbreaks reported per week for counties with population of 75,000 to 300,000 people. An outbreak is defined as two or more non-household cases linked by epidemiology within 14 days in a workplace, congregate living or institutional setting.

As of Thursday, Whatcom County had 21 trained, full-time disease investigators who do case investigations and contact tracing the Health Department said on it its website.

Investigators have been able to interview 94% of people who test positive for COVID-19 within 24 hours in the past month, and has been able to do contact tracing and interviews with their contacts within 48 hours for 70% of close contacts, the Health Department said.

Further, the county opened an isolation and quarantine facility in late April at the former Motel 6 in Bellingham.

That facility is for anyone who tests positive for the new coronavirus or who has been exposed to the respiratory illness and can’t safely isolate or quarantine at home.

Phase 1 allowed the reopening of retail (curbside pick-up orders only); automobile, recreational vehicle, boat, and off-road vehicle sales; landscaping, car washes, and pet walkers.

Phase 2 enables retail firms to resume in-store purchases, restaurants to reopen with 50 percent capacity and table sizes no larger than 5, and the re-start of new construction, real estate, hair and nail salons, and barbers.

Phase 3 allows restaurants/taverns to reopen at 75 percent capacity with tables sizes no larger than 10, as well as bar areas in restaurants/taverns at 25 percent capacity, movie theaters at 50 percent capacity, and libraries and museums.

Bellingham Herald reporter Robert Mittendorf contributed to this story.

This story was originally published May 31, 2020 at 11:57 AM.