Whatcom’s coronavirus case count grows by 15 Monday, state reports, but no new deaths
Fifteen more Whatcom County residents have tested positive for COVID-19, the Washington Health Department reported on Monday, June 29. No new deaths were reported for the county on Monday.
Whatcom County now has had 615 confirmed cases and continues to have had 40 deaths during the pandemic — meaning 6.5% of people diagnosed with the new coronavirus in Whatcom have died — according to state department of health data as of 11:59 p.m. Sunday, June 28.
The state also reports the county has had 55 hospitalizations and has conducted 17,924 tests, with 3.4% returning positive results.
The most recent data from the state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard Sunday shows Whatcom County missing three of five Phase 2 metrics goals:
▪ Whatcom is missing the target rate of fewer than 25 new cases per 100,000 residents every 14 days with a rate of 63.5.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target rate of more than 50 individuals tested for each new confirmed case the past week with a rate of 19.5.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of 2% or less of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 5.1%.
▪ Whatcom is making the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds with 71.4% reported by the state.
▪ Whatcom is making the target of less than 10% of all licensed hospital beds being occupied by COVID-19 patients with 0.0% reported by the state.
U.S. and Washington state
More than 10.2 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with at least 504,200 deaths as of Monday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has 2,581,539 confirmed cases — the most reported cases of any nation — and at least 126,089 related deaths.
Overall, the Washington State Department of Health Sunday afternoon reported 32,253 cases (an increase of 501), 1,320 deaths (10 new deaths) and 4,3,23 coronavirus-related hospitalizations (an increase of 48). Approximately 4.1% of all confirmed cases in the state have resulted in death, while 5.9% of the 548,220 tests administered have come back positive for COVID-19.
Facility employee tests positive
Spring Creek by Bonaventure, a retirement, assisted living and memory care facility in Bellingham, reported to The Bellingham Herald that it was notified by the Department of Health on Sunday, June 28, that an employee tested positive for COVID-19.
The employee was asymptomatic, wore personal protective equipment while at work and was not believed to have come in contact with any of the residents at Spring Creek, Bonaventure Director of Operations Jeremiah Gray told The Herald Monday. Gray said the employee, who worked as a tray runner, is believed to have contracted the virus from a roommate and has since been isolated.
Spring Creek had already begun blanket testing all of its residents, Gray reported, and they are now evaluating whether they need to do a second round of testing all residents based on when the employee may have been exposed.
Gray said this is the second instance of a Spring Creek employee testing positive during the pandemic — another employee, who also was asymptomatic, was believed to have been exposed while at the hospital in early spring.
Overall, two Spring Creek residents have tested positive for COVID-19, but both are believed to have contracted the virus before moving to the facility and are not believed to have passed it to any other residents, Gray said.
“The community has done a really good job of cleaning and disinfecting and protecting the residents there,” Gray said.
Phased reopening
Whatcom County is not meeting COVID-19 case count benchmarks and did not apply last week to move into Phase 3 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s reopening plan.
Whatcom County moved to Phase 2 on June 5, making Friday, June 26, the earliest date the county could have applied for Phase 3.
On Saturday, June 27, Inslee announced that the Washington Department of Health “is putting a pause” on counties moving into Phase 4 under the “Safe Start” plan.
As positive cases of COVID-19 continue to spread across the state, moving into Phase 4, which means basically no restrictions, is “impossible at this time,” according to a news release.
Three counties are in Phase 1, two counties are in a modified version of Phase 1, 17 counties — including Whatcom — are in Phase 2 and 17 counties are in 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 29, 2020 at 4:47 PM.
