State reports Friday that 8 more people test positive for COVID-19 in Whatcom County
Eight new Whatcom County residents have tested positive for COVID-19, but no new deaths were reported on Friday, June 12, by the Washington Health Department.
The county now has 436 confirmed cases, 31 in the last seven days, and 38 deaths during the pandemic — meaning 8.7% 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 11.
The state also reports the county has had 53 hospitalizations and has conducted 13,291 tests, with 3.3% returning positive results.
The most recent data from the state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard is from Thursday, June 11, 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 16.9, back to trends seen earlier in the month.
▪ Whatcom is making the target rate of more than 50 individuals tested for each new confirmed case the past week with a rate of 87.4.
▪ Whatcom is making the target of less than 2% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 1.1%.
▪ 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 Friday that for the fourth day in a row it has no patients who have either tested positive or are suspected to have COVID-19.
More than 7.6 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with more than 424,775 deaths as of Friday 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 114,613 related deaths.
Overall, the Washington State Department of Health Friday evening reported 25,171 cases (an increase of 392), 1,204 deaths (an increase of 10) and 3,817 coronavirus-related hospitalizations (an increase of 45). Approximately 4.8% of all confirmed cases in the state have resulted in death, while 5.7% of the 439,862 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.
