18 people test positive for COVID-19 in Whatcom, state reports for weekend
Eighteen residents tested positive for COVID-19 in Whatcom County, according to the Washington State Department of Health on Sunday, July 12. No new deaths were reported by the state for the county.
No county- or state-level COVID-19 data was released Saturday, July 11, by the state health department as its data system was down for maintenance.
Whatcom County now has had 710 confirmed cases and 41 deaths during the pandemic, according to the state. The new numbers mean 5.8% of people diagnosed with the new coronavirus in Whatcom have died — according to state Department of Health data as of 11:59 p.m. Saturday, July 11.
The state also reported Sunday that Whatcom County has had 62 hospitalizations and has conducted 22,523 tests, with 3.2% returning positive results.
Lummi Public Health shared on Facebook Saturday, July 11, that a Lummi family member tested positive, bringing the tribe’s overall case number to 44.
The most recent data from the state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard, reported on Friday, shows Whatcom County was missing four 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 69.2.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target rate of more than 50 individuals tested for each new confirmed case the past week with a rate of 49.7.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of 2% or less of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 2%.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds occupied by non-COVID-19 patients with 86.7% 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 0.8% reported by the state.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported to The Bellingham Herald on Sunday that it was treating two patients for coronavirus.
U.S. and Washington state
More than 12.8 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with more than 568,511 deaths as of Sunday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 3.3 million confirmed cases — the most reported cases of any nation — and at least 135,190 related deaths.
Overall, the Washington State Department of Health Sunday evening reported 40,656 cases (an increase of 1,438 for two days), 1,438 deaths (14 new deaths) and 4,751 coronavirus-related hospitalizations (a increase of 89). Approximately 3.5% of all confirmed cases in the state have resulted in death, while 5.9% of the 686,005 tests administered have come back positive for COVID-19.
Phased reopening
Whatcom County is not meeting COVID-19 case count benchmarks and has not applied 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 Thursday, July 2, Inslee announced a two-week pause until July 16 on counties advancing phases under the state’s Safe Start plan, and said businesses won’t be able to serve customers at their bar tops.
Washington’s secretary of health said Wednesday, July 9, if cases of coronavirus continue to increase, it was unlikely that a current statewide pause for counties looking to advance from their current stage of reopening will be lifted at the end of the initial two-week timeframe.
Five counties are now 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, barbers and gyms with some restrictions.
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 July 12, 2020 at 8:35 PM.
