Six more test positive for COVID-19 in Whatcom County, state says Friday
Six more Whatcom County residents have tested positive for COVID-19 according to the Washington State Department of Health on Friday, July 24. No new deaths have been reported.
Whatcom County now has had 824 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. Thursday, July 23.
The state also reported Friday that Whatcom County has had 74 hospitalizations and has conducted 29,094 tests, with 2.8% returning positive results.
The most recent data from the state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard, reported on Friday, 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 55.5.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target rate of more than 50 individuals tested for each new confirmed case the past week with a rate of 41.9.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of 2% or less of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 2.4%.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds occupied by non-COVID-19 patients with 83.1% 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 3.1% reported by the state.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported to The Bellingham Herald on Friday that it was treating 8 patients for the new coronavirus, down from 10 earlier in the week. The most-ever COVID-19 patients at the Bellingham hospital was 11 on March 31.
New Lummi cases
The Lummi Public Health Department announced via Facebook post Thursday, July 23, that two more community members have tested positive for COVID-19.
The two new cases bring the number of Lummi community members diagnosed with the respiratory illness to 48.
After having only two new cases in the two months between May 19 and Monday, July 20, Lummi has now reported four new cases this week.
The Lummi Indian Business Council announced July 6 in a Facebook post that it is extending its Shelter in Place order until July 27 due to the increased cases in Whatcom County.
The Nooksack Indian Tribe announced via a Facebook post that it has conducted 658 COVID-19 tests. Of those 15 are still awaiting results and the 643 others all came back negative.
U.S. and Washington state
More than 15.6 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with more than 636,752 deaths as of Friday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has over 4.09 million confirmed cases — the most reported cases of any nation — and at least 145,184 related deaths.
Overall, the Washington State Department of Health Friday afternoon reported 50,824 cases (an increase of 815), 1,495 deaths (an increase of 13) and 5,301 coronavirus-related hospitalizations (an increase of 25). Approximately 2.9% of all confirmed cases in the state have resulted in death, while 5.7% of the 883,982 tests administered have come back positive for COVID-19.
Number watching
Though most people are following the number of new cases, deaths and tests, the Whatcom County Health Department said in a release Friday the most important number is the number of people you gather with.
“And good news: it’s one you can control and it can affect all the other numbers we are tracking,” the release stated.
The reason that number is important, the release said, is that the virus spreads most often and more easily with in-person contact.
“Limiting that number to no more than five people outside your household can greatly reduce your chance of getting infected or accidentally sharing an infection you don’t even know that you have yet,” the release said.
Limiting your contacts will not only help the spread of the infection, but also help the county move to the next phases of state’s Safe Start plan.
“Although it might seem like no big deal to have close contact with just one extra person, each new contact offers a potential path for COVID-19 to transfer from one household to another,” the release read. “For each person you hang out with, consider all the places they’ve been and people they’ve seen, and all the chances they’ve had to pick up an infection without knowing it.
“For every additional person you choose to spend time with, you are exposing yourself to all the risk that that person has been exposed to as well.”
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.
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