COVID-19 spike means Phase 3 application unlikely as Whatcom becomes eligible this week
Short of a miracle, Whatcom County won’t be applying for Phase 3 under the state’s Safe Start program to reopen businesses closed in the wake of the new coronavirus pandemic, Health Director Erika Lautenbach said.
Because of problems at the state Department of Health website, Whatcom County has seen far more cases of COVID-19 than were disclosed, Lautenbach told the Bellingham City Council in an online meeting Monday night, June 22.
Some 47 new infections have been seen in the past three days, instead of the 25 that were reported.
“That’s almost 50 cases in three days,” Lautenbach said. “Obviously, we’re going in the wrong direction. We want to apply on Friday. We’re not in a good place for that.”
She said northern Whatcom County continues to show the most infections, especially in Lynden, Ferndale and Blaine.
Social events where people were close together but not wearing face coverings or masks are to blame, she said.
But no infections have been traced to recent marches and rallies for Black Lives Matter — which drew hundreds and sometimes thousands of people, almost all of them wearing masks.
“We still don’t have any cases from the protests in Bellingham, so we know that masks work,” she said.
“I wouldn’t say a sigh of relief, but for the most part, the infectious period has passed. I do think it’s a testament to wearing masks,” she said.
Lautenbach said two-thirds of the infections in June were among those age 29 and younger.
“Because they’re younger, they’re not experiencing symptoms and they’re going to work sick,” she said.
Most of the new infections are being traced to parties where each person infected had as many as 50 close contacts.
“That becomes a real detective novel for all of us,” Lautenbach said.
Those younger COVID-19 sufferers are seeing milder symptoms and haven’t required hospitalization, Lautenbach said. So St. Joseph hospital still has adequate capacity to treat the parents and grandparents of the youths who are sick.
“Our county still has the ability to respond to a medical surge,” she said.
She said a mask order likely would be unenforceable, but she implored everyone to wear face coverings indoors and when they can’t maintain social distancing of six feet apart outdoors.
This story was originally published June 22, 2020 at 8:33 PM.
