Six more COVID-19 cases reported in Whatcom County Wednesday
Six more Whatcom County residents have tested positive for COVID-19, but no new deaths were reported on Wednesday, June 10, by the Washington Health Department.
The county now has 426 confirmed cases and 38 deaths during the pandemic — meaning 8.9% of people diagnosed with the respiratory illness in Whatcom have died — according to state department of health data as of 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, June 9.
The state also now reports the county has had a total of 52 hospitalizations and has conducted 12,384 tests, with 3.4% returning positive results.
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard continues to show data from Monday, June 8, due to technical issues it hopes to have corrected by late Thursday, June 11:
▪ 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 making the target rate of more than 50 individuals tested for each new confirmed case the past week with a rate of 151.2.
▪ Whatcom is making the target of less than 2% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of .07%.
▪ Whatcom is making the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds being occupied with a rate of 71.4%.
▪ Whatcom is making the target of less than 10% of all licensed hospital beds being occupied by COVID-19 patients with a rate of zero.
St. Joseph hospital reported to The Bellingham Herald Wednesday that it has no patients who have either tested positive or are suspected to have COVID-19 — the second straight day of no coronavirus cases.
The hospital is now allowing limited visitor access to patients who are not COVID-19 suspect or positive, according to a news release. Those patients will be allowed one designated visitor during their stay with two visitors allowed for end-of-life patients. Minors are also allowed two visitors who are parents or legal guardians.
More than 7.3 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with more than 413,000 deaths as of Wednesday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has nearly 2 million confirmed cases — the most reported cases of any nation — and at least 112,647 related deaths.
Overall, the Washington State Department of Health Wednesday evening reported 24,642 cases (an increase of 223), 1,190 deaths (an increase of 14) and 3,773 coronavirus-related hospitalizations (an increase of 26). Approximately 4.8% of all confirmed cases in the state have resulted in death, while 5.9% of the 415,342 tests administered have come back positive for COVID-19.
Phased reopening
Whatcom County was approved Friday, June 5, to move to Phase 2 under new benchmarks announced May 29, by Gov. Jay Inslee. Whatcom is now one 25 counties in Phase 2 — six remain in Phase 1 and eight have advanced to Phase 3.
Whatcom will need to wait until at least June 26 before it can apply to move to 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.
