Whatcom County has had two active outbreaks of coronavirus in the past month
Whatcom County has had two ongoing active outbreaks of COVID-19 over the past four weeks, according to the county’s application to move to Phase 2 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s Safe Start plan to reopen the state.
Summit Place Assisted Living first reported a positive coronavirus case on March 22, according to the county’s application. Since that time, 19 residents and seven staff members have tested positive for the respiratory illness, the application states.
The most recent positive case was confirmed on Thursday, May 28. At least two residents of Summit Place who have tested positive for the coronavirus have died.
Pete Wolkin, director of operations for Nightingale Healthcare, which manages Summit Place, responded to an email that he had no comment about the outbreak.
On Monday, June 1, the Whatcom County Health Department announced there is an active outbreak of COVID-19 at a processing facility.
The facility first reported a positive coronavirus case on April 26, according to the county’s Phase 2 application. A total of 20 positive cases have been associated with the outbreak, with the most recent positive case occurring on Friday, May 29, the application states.
The name of the facility has not been released because the company has not given the county health department consent to release its name. It’s important for the health department to be able to work with the company to investigate the outbreak, Whatcom County Health Department Director Erika Lautenbach said during a media briefing Monday.
The health department reported the bulk of the 16 additional positive coronavirus cases over the weekend were associated with the employees of the facility and their close contacts, Lautenbach said during the briefing.
Early in the pandemic, older adults in long-term care settings, particularly those age 80 and older, were disproportionately affected by COVID-19 in Whatcom County compared to other populations, the county’s application states. As the pandemic continued, positive cases began to spread out among various age groups, including younger adults. Some of those were attributed to people working in healthcare settings or were from workplace outbreaks, such as the unnamed processing facility, according to the Phase 2 application.
The outbreak at the processing facility has required “extensive work” between the health department and the employer to assess and upgrade the work environment to ensure social distance guidelines can be met and to implement environmental controls that allow critical infrastructure workers to continue working while in quarantine, the application states.
“The main priority of this outbreak is to support effective isolation and quarantine for employees who are primarily Spanish speaking (Spanish is second language and Indian dialect is first language),” the county’s application states.
The health department has referred people to the isolation and quarantine facility set up at the former Motel 6 site, as well as provided resources for rent and food. The health department also has tested close contacts of those who have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the application.
Lautenbach said Monday that she was unaware of any impact the outbreak is having on the local food supply system. The Washington State Department of Health is working closely with the county health department to handle the cluster at the processing facility.
Whatcom County has 404 confirmed coronavirus cases and 37 COVID-19-related deaths, according the Washington state data, as of Wednesday, June 3.
Phase 2 application
Inslee eased state guidelines to move to Phase 2 on Friday, May 29, which allowed Whatcom County to apply for a variance.
Under Inslee’s guidelines, a county has to have fewer than 25 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people over 14 days. The county also has to have flat or decreasing hospitalizations for coronavirus cases and be ready to surge if need be, the capacity to perform an average number of tests per day during the past week at a rate of 50 times the number of positive cases, and have one or fewer outbreaks reported per week for counties with a population of 75,000 to 300,000 people.
Whatcom County is among 12 of Washington’s 39 counties that remain in Phase 1. Clark County’s application is on pause due to an outbreak investigation.
An answer to Whatcom County’s application to move to Phase 2 should come within two days, according to the County Executive’s Office.
