On the day Whatcom County moved to Phase 2, only one new coronavirus case was reported
On the day Whatcom County was approved to move to Phase 2 of the state’s coronavirus Safe Start plan, the Washington State Department of Health reported only one new positive test in the county for COVID-19 Friday evening, June 5.
The county now has 405 confirmed cases and 37 deaths during the pandemic — meaning 9.1% of people diagnosed with the respiratory illness in Whatcom have died — according to state department of health data as of 11:59 p.m. Thursday, June 4.
The state also reports the county has 53 hospitalizations, has conducted 10,791 tests, with 3.8% returning positive results.
The Whatcom County Health Department has stopped releasing coronavirus data that is independent from COVID-19 data the state is releasing for the county. The county health department announced in a press release Wednesday, June 3, 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.
Also Friday, the state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard now shows:
▪ Whatcom is making the target rate of fewer than 25 new cases per 100,000 residents every 14 days with a rate of 17.3.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target rate of more than 50 individuals tested for each new confirmed case the past week with a rate of 26.3.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 3.8%.
▪ Whatcom is making the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds being occupied with a rate of 75.1%.
▪ Whatcom is making the target of less than 10% of all licensed hospital beds being occupied by COVID-19 patients with a rate of 1.7%.
St. Joseph hospital reported to The Bellingham Herald Friday that it has two patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 and two other awaiting test results.
More than 6.7 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with more than 393,000 deaths as of Friday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has nearly 1.9 million confirmed cases — the most reported cases of any nation — and at least 108,920 related deaths.
Overall, the Washington State Department of Health Friday afternoon reported 22,993 cases (an increase of 264), 1,149 deaths (an increase of 11) and 3,639 coronavirus-related hospitalizations (an increase of 23). Approximately 5.0% of all confirmed cases in the state have resulted in death, while 5.9% of the 390,863 tests administered have come back positive for COVID-19.
Phased reopening
Before Friday, Whatcom County was one of 12 Washington state counties waiting to move to Phase 2 under new benchmarks announced Friday, May 29, by Gov. Jay Inslee.
Clark, Okanogan, Pierce, Skagit and Snohomish counties joined Whatcom in being approved to move to Phase 2 on Friday, while King County moved to a modified version of Phase 1, according to the state Department of Health. Columbia, Ferry, Garfield, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Stevens and Wahkiakum counties were approved to move to Phase 3.
It will be at least three weeks before Whatcom can apply for Phase 3.
Phase 2 enables retail firms to resume in-store purchases, restaurants to reopen with 50% 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% capacity with table sizes no larger than 10, as well as bar areas in restaurants/taverns at 25% capacity, movie theaters at 50% capacity, and libraries and museums.
Staying at Phase 2
Now that Whatcom County is in Phase 2, the work is far from finished. The county could move back to Phase 1, if circumstances deteriorate.
Included among developments that could send Whatcom or any other county back to Phase 1, state Department of Health spokesperson Jessica Baggett told The Bellingham Herald in an email, are: a significant community transmission, minimal access to COVID-19 testing, inadequate surge capacity in the hospital, inadequate personal protection supplies, inadequate case and contact investigations, inadequate daily monitoring of cases during their isolation period or cases during their quarantine period, inadequate isolation or quarantine facilities.
Any of those conditions could force the secretary of health to revoke phase approval, and the county can also identify and decide to return to an earlier phase or eliminate approved activities, Baggett wrote.
Additionally, Baggett reported that the county must:
▪ Notify the Washington State Department of Health of any outbreaks within the county within six hours.
▪ Monitor the community for signs of transmission or if the number of new cases accelerates and promptly notify the state Department of Health if any are noted.
▪ Report metrics weekly for contacts with people in isolation and quarantine to the state Department of Health.
If a county has to move backward from Phase 2, Baggett wrote that the length of time it would have to remain at Phase 1 before reapplying for Phase 2 “would vary depending on the circumstances.”
