Whatcom surpasses 400 total coronavirus cases Monday, reduces death total by 3
The Whatcom County Health Department Sunday afternoon, May 31, reduced by three the number of deaths it is reporting related to the coronavirus pandemic. On Monday, June 1, the health department also reported six new positive tests for COVID-19, as the county surpassed 400 confirmed cases.
The county is now reporting 401 cases of the respiratory illness and 30 related deaths, according to health department statistics.
When Sunday’s numbers were initially released, 33 deaths were reported. But a follow-up release said that a death that was reported Tuesday, May 26, had been reconciled and removed from the death total. The release did not include any information about the other two deaths that were removed, but based on when deaths have been announced, at least one would have been announced on or before May 7.
The health department is constantly evaluating the cause of death, Director Erika Lautenbach said during an online briefing Monday to determine whether coronavirus is the primary cause of death, or if somebody died of another condition or illness and also tested positive for COVID-19 either before or after death.
“Some of the cases might be somebody that was in hospice or has an unrelated illness or is very sick,” Lautenbach said. “The death investigation process will identify if COVID was the most significant or primary cause to why they died.”
The Washington State Department of Health reported 36 deaths in Whatcom County as of Saturday night.
County health department spokesperson Melissa Morin said during Monday’s briefing that the two health agencies use slightly different definitions to determine which deaths are related to COVID-19 and that state definition is in the process of being updated.
Even with the six new positive tests reported Monday, Whatcom remains well below the new threshold of 25 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past 14 days required to apply for Phase 2 of re-opening. With 41 confirmed cases reported by the health department since May 19 and a population of more than 225,000, Whatcom County is averaging 18.2 reported cases per 100,000 people over the past 14 days.
To make things easier to understand, Lautenbach said during the briefing, the county is aiming to average fewer than four new cases per day to meet the new criteria. By that metric, Whatcom has averaged reporting 2.8 new cases the past 14 days.
On Sunday, a press release from American Seafoods reported that 86 crew members of the American Dynasty trawler that docked in Bellingham last week have tested positive for COVID-19. The Seattle-based crew are not showing symptoms of the disease and stayed on the ship when it was in Bellingham, according to the release, though one crew member was admitted to St. Joseph hospital for treatment. The ship has since returned to the Port of Seattle and is under quarantine.
“We do not believe there were any exposures in Whatcom County,” Lautenbach said during the briefing, adding that none of the 86 cases will be attributed to Whatcom County unless any of the employees that tested positive live in Whatcom County.
The county health department also Monday reported 11 more negative test results, bringing the total to 8,146 — 95.3% of the 8,547 test results that the county has reported.
St. Joseph hospital reported to The Bellingham Herald Monday that it is treating two patients who have tested positive for COVID-19, while no others are suspected of having the respiratory illness.
More than 6.2 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with more than 373,000 deaths as of Monday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has nearly 1.8 million confirmed cases — the most reported cases of any nation — and at least 104,584 related deaths.
Overall, the Washington State Department of Health Sunday night reported 21,702 cases, 1,118 deaths and 3,501 coronavirus-related hospitalizations. Approximately 5.2% of all confirmed cases in the death have resulted in death, while 6.0% of the 360,899 tests administered have come back positive for COVID-19.
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 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.
This story was originally published June 1, 2020 at 12:36 PM.
