Whatcom announces new coronavirus dashboard and stops releasing independent data
The Whatcom County Health Department has stopped releasing coronavirus data that is independent from COVID-19 data the Washington State Department of Health is releasing for the county.
The county health department in a press release Wednesday, June 3, announced that it has launched a new, interactive COVID-19 dashboard, that it says displays new metrics and should allow for better comparisons to other counties. The new dashboard still provides the same information that was previously available on the county’s page, including epidemiological curves and case counts, but in an interactive format and with new daily numbers.
“The move to a new data dashboard includes a shift in the data sources, from an internal WCHD (Whatcom County Health Department) database to direct reporting from the Washington Disease Reporting System,” the release said. “Through regular reconciliation, these databases host the same information about Whatcom County confirmed cases and other COVID-19 related data. Throughout each week the two sources may have slightly different information based on the data entry process.”
As of Wednesday, the data mirrored what the state had been reporting for Whatcom County. The state, which releases data a day later than the county had been releasing data, listed the county with 401 confirmed cases and 37 related deaths as of data released at 11:59 p.m. June 1.
County health department spokesperson Melissa Morin told The Bellingham Herald that the state and county use different definitions to determine which deaths are related to COVID-19.
The county has reported only 30 deaths since it decreased that total by three on Sunday, May 31, and reported 404 confirmed cases as of Tuesday, June 2.
The release said it expected these differences to be reconciled in the coming days.
“Because of this change, some of the numbers may be slightly different than have previously been reported, such as the number of confirmed cases and testing information for a specific date,” the release state. “Overall, the shift to the new dashboard will create greater consistency moving forward, and the small adjustments in data reflect important ongoing data cleaning to ensure completeness and data integrity.”
The new dashboard also shows Whatcom County has had 52 COVID-19 hospitalizations, a 9.2% death rate from confirmed cases and 8,596 total tests performed with 4.7% positive test results.
The dashboard will be updated between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. and will be unavailable for approximately one hour during that time, the release stated.
St. Joseph hospital reported to The Bellingham Herald Wednesday that it is treating two patients who have tested positive for COVID-19, while no others are suspected of having the respiratory illness.
The Nooksack Indian Tribe reported on Tuesday that it has tested 433 community members at the Nooksack Health Clinic during the pandemic. All but eight of those, which are awaiting results, have been returned negative for COVID-19.
More than 6.4 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with more than 382,000 deaths as of Wednesday 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 106,696 related deaths.
Overall, the Washington State Department of Health Tuesday night reported 22,157 cases, 1,129 deaths and 3,543 coronavirus-related hospitalizations. Approximately 5.1% of all confirmed cases in the state have resulted in death, while 6.0% of the 368,799 tests administered have come back positive for COVID-19.
State risk assessment
The Washington State Department of Health Wednesday announced the launch of an updated version of the state’s online COVID-19 risk assessment dashboard. Information provided on the site provides a better ability to see coronavirus activity, testing and healthcare system readiness across the region and in each county, a release stated.
“As we begin to gradually reopen and shift to a county-based plan, it’s crucial we keep a close eye on if, where and how COVID-19 is spreading,” Gov. Jay Inslee said in the release. “Washingtonians have been doing their part to keep each other healthy and safe, and we want to keep up that good work. We hope the data provided in this dashboard helps us all make well-reasoned decisions about how we can reopen safely.”
The dashboard not only shows where the state is in relation to targets set for the governor’s Safe Start plan that , but breaks that data down by county. It receives data from the Department of Health, the state’s new WA HEALTH hospital reporting system, the state Department of Social Services, county health departments and other sources and also shows which phase in the re-opening plan each county is currently in.
For Whatcom County, the new dashboard targets aimed at reducing risk of disease transmission shows that as of Monday, June 1:
▪ Whatcom is meeting the target of fewer than 25 newly diagnosed COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents during the past two weeks with 16.9 (38 confirmed cases the past two weeks and a population of 225,300). The entire state is at 41.8.
▪ Whatcom is not meeting the target for having more than 50 individuals tested for each new case in the previous week with 12.6 people tested (52 average individuals tested per day and four average new cases per day over the past week). The state is at 18.9.
▪ Whatcom is not meeting the target for having less than 2% of all individuals who are tested test positive for COVID-19 in the past week at 7.9% (29 positives in 365 tests in the past week). The state is at 5.3.
▪ Whatcom is meeting the goal of having less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds occupied by patients at 71.9% (182 of 253 beds). The state is at 64.5%.
▪ Whatcom is meeting the goal of having less than 10% of all licensed hospital beds being occupied by COVID-19 cases at 0.4% (1 of 253 beds). The state is at 3.5%.
Phased reopening
Whatcom County is one of 12 Washington state counties still waiting to move to Phase 2 after they meet new benchmarks announced Friday, May 29, by Gov. Jay Inslee.
Members of the Whatcom County Council, acting as the county Health Board, voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the Health Department’s application for a Phase 2 variance and send it to the state for consideration.
An answer should come within two days, an official with the County Executive’s Office said.
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 3, 2020 at 1:06 PM.
