Two in Whatcom test positive for COVID-19; Lummi Nation extends shelter order
Two more Whatcom County residents have tested positive for COVID-19, but no new deaths were reported on Thursday, June 11, by the Washington Health Department.
The county now has 428 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. Wednesday, June 10.
The state also reports the county continues to have a total of 52 hospitalizations and has conducted 13,038 tests, with 3.34% returning positive results.
Lummi Nation announced a new Shelter in Place order for June 9 to June 30, according to a post on the Lummi Communications Facebook page. People are reminded to maintain social distancing of at least six feet from any other person when they are outside their residence. All public and private gatherings of more than ten people outside a household are prohibited.
The most recent data from the state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard is from Wednesday, June 10, and shows all five metrics meeting Phase 2 goals:
▪ Whatcom is making the target rate of fewer than 25 new cases per 100,000 residents every 14 days with a rate of 19.4, trending up from early June with rates in the 17s.
▪ Whatcom is making the target rate of more than 50 individuals tested for each new confirmed case the past week with a rate of 105.2.
▪ Whatcom is making the target of less than 2% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 1.0%.
▪ 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 Thursday that for the third day in a row it has no patients who have either tested positive or are suspected to have COVID-19.
Almost 7.5 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with more than 420,847 deaths as of Thursday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 2 million confirmed cases — the most reported cases of any nation — and at least 113,783 related deaths.
Overall, the Washington State Department of Health Wednesday evening reported 24,779 cases (an increase of 137), 1,194 deaths (an increase of 4) and 3,772 coronavirus-related hospitalizations (a decrease of 1). Approximately 4.8% of all confirmed cases in the state have resulted in death, while 5.8% of the 425,212 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.
This story was originally published June 11, 2020 at 5:49 PM.
