Fourteen more test positive for COVID-19 in Whatcom County, state says Sunday

Fourteen more Whatcom County residents have tested positive for COVID-19 according to the Washington State Department of Health on Sunday, July 26. No new deaths have been reported.

Whatcom County now has had 844 confirmed cases and 37 deaths during the pandemic, according to the state. The new numbers mean 4.4% 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 25.

The state also reported Sunday that Whatcom County has had 73 hospitalizations and has conducted 29,921 tests, with 2.8% returning positive results.

St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported to The Bellingham Herald on Sunday that it was treating seven 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.

More Lummi cases

The Lummi Public Health Department announced via Facebook post Sunday, July 26, that seven more community members have tested positive for COVID-19.

The seven new cases bring the number of Lummi community members diagnosed with the respiratory illness to 55.

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 on Friday, July 24, that it has conducted 660 COVID-19 tests. Of those 15 are still awaiting results and the 645 others came back negative. The tribe has had no positive tests for COVID-19.

Risk assessment data

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.

U.S. and Washington state

More than 16.1 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with more than 647,846 deaths as of Sunday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has over 4.23 million confirmed cases — the most reported cases of any nation — and at least 146,927 related deaths.

Overall, the Washington State Department of Health Sunday evening reported 52,635 cases (an increase of 786), 1,501 deaths (an increase of 7 cases) and 5,374 coronavirus-related hospitalizations (an increase of 33). Approximately 2.9% of all confirmed cases in the state have resulted in death, while 5.7% of the 919,347 tests administered have come back positive for COVID-19.

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, July 23, 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 26, 2020 at 6:26 PM.