Eleven more test positive for COVID-19 in Whatcom County, state says Thursday
Eleven more Whatcom County residents have tested positive for COVID-19 according to the Washington State Department of Health on Thursday, July 23. No new deaths have been reported.
Whatcom County now has had 818 confirmed cases and 37 deaths during the pandemic, according to the state. The new numbers mean 4.5% of people diagnosed with the new coronavirus in Whatcom have died — according to state Department of Health data as of 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, July 22.
The state also reported Thursday that Whatcom County has had 72 hospitalizations and has conducted 28,717 tests, with 2.8% returning positive results.
The most recent data from the state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard, reported on Thursday, shows Whatcom County making one of five Phase 2 metrics goals after making four of the five on Thursday, July 16:
▪ Whatcom is missing the target rate of fewer than 25 new cases per 100,000 residents every 14 days with a rate of 52.8.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target rate of more than 50 individuals tested for each new confirmed case the past week with a rate of 44.8.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of 2% or less of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 2.2%.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds occupied by non-COVID-19 patients with 82.4% 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 3.9% reported by the state.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported to The Bellingham Herald on Thursday that it was treating 10 patients for coronavirus. The most-ever COVID-19 patients at the Bellingham hospital was 11 on March 31.
U.S. and Washington state
More than 15.4 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with more than 631,680 deaths as of Thursday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has over 4.02 million confirmed cases — the most reported cases of any nation — and at least 144,072 related deaths.
Overall, the Washington State Department of Health Thursday afternoon reported 50,009 cases (an increase of 762), 1,482 deaths (an increase of 14) and 5,276 coronavirus-related hospitalizations (an increase of 65). Approximately 3.0% of all confirmed cases in the state have resulted in death, while 5.7% of the 870,763 tests administered have come back positive for COVID-19.
Long-term care facilities
More than three-quarters (75.7%) of Whatcom County’s 37 deaths related to COVID-19, as of July 21, have been tied to long-term care facilities, according to the latest data released Wednesday by the Washington State Department of Health. During the coronavirus pandemic, 28 deaths associated with Whatcom County nursing homes, assisted living facilities or adult family homes have died at least in part due to the respiratory illness.
That is well above the state average of 57% (830 of 1,468 total deaths), the report showed. Whatcom County has the sixth-most COVID-related long-term care facility deaths in the state behind King (409), Snohomish (94), Yakima (85), Benton (68) and Pierce (65) counties.
Whatcom is also sixth in the number of confirmed cases associated with long-term care facilities with 153 (19.0% of Whatcom’s 807 total cases).
That is nearly double state average of 10% (5,075 of 49,247 total cases), and Whatcom is again sixth behind the same five counties.
Of Whatcom County’s 37 deaths related to coronavirus, only one has been of a person younger than 60, according to the latest Whatcom Unified Command status report. People 80 and older represent 29 deaths (78.4%), while seven deaths (18.9%) have occurred in people between 60 and 79.
People under the age of 60, meanwhile, represent 75.2% of the 780 reported cases (587 cases) in the county, as of July 20, according to the report, meaning those 60 and older make up just 24.8%.
Phased reopening
Gov. Jay Inslee said at a virtual press conference July 14 that the pause on reopening phases under the state’s Safe Start plan will continue until at least July 28.
And on Thursday, Inslee announced changes to the state’s Safe Start plan that affect restaurants, bars, gyms, weddings and funerals, movie theaters and other services.
Five counties remain in a modified version of Phase 1, 17 counties — including Whatcom — are in Phase 2 and 17 counties are in Phase 3.
Phase 2 allows restaurants and taverns to operate at half capacity with table occupancy limited to five, hair and nail salons and barber shops to resume business, and retail stores to reopen for in-store purchases at 30% capacity. It also allows additional outdoor recreation and gatherings with no more than five people outside of a person’s household.
Phase 3 allows gyms and movie theaters to operate at half capacity and restaurants to increase capacity to 75%. A prohibition on bar seating at restaurants and taverns was added in this phase earlier in July.
This story was originally published July 23, 2020 at 4:23 PM.
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