Whatcom County sees 9 new coronavirus cases Monday and surges in three regions

Nine more Whatcom County residents have tested positive for COVID-19 according to the Washington State Department of Health on Monday, July 7. No new deaths have been reported.

Whatcom County now has had 853 confirmed cases and 37 deaths during the pandemic, according to the state. The new numbers mean 4.3% 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, July 26.

The state also reported Sunday that Whatcom County has had 73 hospitalizations and has conducted 30,235 tests, with 2.8% returning positive results.

St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported to The Bellingham Herald on Monday that it was treating five 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.

Risk assessment data

The most recent data from the state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard, reported on Monday, shows Whatcom County making two 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 57.3.

▪ Whatcom is missing the target rate of more than 50 individuals tested for each new confirmed case the past week with a rate of 47.4.

▪ Whatcom is missing the target of 2% or less of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 2.1%.

▪ Whatcom is making the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds occupied by non-COVID-19 patients 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 2.0% reported by the state.

Whatcom’s COVID case locations

Three Whatcom County communities continued to see a surge in new coronavirus cases last week.

The Whatcom County Health Department, which releases data on COVID-19 positive tests by school district, published new data on its website Monday, July 20.

The three districts — Ferndale, Meridian and Mount Baker — had rates of at least 13% growth. Those rates were well above the 4.2% growth the entire county saw between July 20 and 27. Here is what the data showed for the seven regions in the county:

Bellingham: Up 6.1% (19 cases) since July 20 to 330 cases, and the rate per 100,000 residents increased to 294.

Blaine: Up 4.1% (two cases) since July 20 to 51 cases, and the rate per 100,000 residents increased to 290.

Ferndale: Up 18.1% (25 cases) since July 20 to 163 cases, and the rate per 100,000 residents increased to 487.

Lynden: Up 0.8% (one case) since July 20 to 132 cases, and the rate per 100,000 residents increased to 652.

Meridian: Up 13.3% (10 cases) since July 20 to 85 cases, and the rate per 100,000 residents increased to 790 — the highest in Whatcom County.

Mount Baker: Up 16.7% (six cases) since July 20 to 42 cases, and the rate per 100,000 residents increased to 266 — still the lowest in Whatcom County.

Nooksack Valley: Had no new cases since July 20 — the second straight week with no news infections — to remain at 46 cases and a rate per 100,000 residents of 416.

Race and ethnicity

Race and ethnicity of Whatcom County residents testing positive for COVID-19 also were updated Monday, and for the first time data was released on the number of people identifying as Black that have been impacted by the illness.

Previously, data for Whatcom’s Black population, which accounts for 2% of the county’s population, had been suppressed due to the low number of cases in the county, but the health department is now reporting the 1% of all COVID-19 cases in the county are people who identify as Black.

Hispanic residents, who can be of any race, represent 28% of the confirmed COVID-19 cases in the county — slightly up from 26% from data released July 20 — though 9% of the county identifies as Hispanic.

According to the health department data, 65% of the confirmed COVID-19 cases in Whatcom County are white residents — a drop from 66% reported July 20 — though 82% of the county’s population identifies as white.

Meanwhile, 6% of confirmed cases are for residents who identify as American Indian or Alaska Native — unchanged from July 20 — though those races represent only 3% of the county’s population.

Asian and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander residents account for 3% of the county’s coronavirus cases — unchanged from July 20 — though those raced represent 5% of the county’s population.

The remaining 10% of the county’s coronavirus cases were listed as “other” in the health department’s data.

Small Lummi outbreak ‘contained’

After seeing no new coronavirus cases for approximately two months, the Lummi Nation Public Health Team has reported 11 new cases in the past week, including seven reported on Sunday, July 26.

The new reports bring the total the community has seen during the pandemic to 55, but Lummi Nation Chairman Lawrence Solomon said the community public health team has gotten on top of the most recent outbreak.

“Thanks to our public health team for their dedication and skill, with contact tracing and the quarantining at-risk individuals, the recent outbreak has been contained,” Solomon said during a statement posted to Facebook Sunday night. “I would also like to thank our community members for your perseverance throughout this pandemic and your commitment to wearing mask.

“If we continue to successfully navigate this crisis, we must all remain vigilant to practicing social distancing, to protecting our elders and vulnerable populations and to wearing a mask whenever in a public place.”

Solomon also announced during the statement that the Lummi Indian Business Council’s “Shelter in Place” order, which was set to expire Monday has been extended to Aug. 17.

“I want to stress that COVID-19 continues to be a threat to our Lummi community,” Solomon said. To protect the safety of all our members, we must continue to shelter in place. So please continue to stay home as much as possible, and when you do decide to be in public, keep space between yourself and other people. You are all vital to the future of the Lummi Nation.”

U.S. and Washington state

More than 16.3 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with more than 650,918 deaths as of Monday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has over 4.27 million confirmed cases — the most reported cases of any nation — and at least 147,303 related deaths.

Overall, the Washington State Department of Health Sunday evening reported 53,321 cases (an increase of 686), 1,518 deaths (an increase of 17) and 5,397 coronavirus-related hospitalizations (an increase of 23). Approximately 2.8% of all confirmed cases in the state have resulted in death, while 5.7% of the 933,304 tests administered have come back positive for COVID-19.

Masks for seafood industry

With COVID-19 continuing to be an issue in the seafood industry, a local group recently distributed 6,000 cloth face masks to several Whatcom seafood processing facilities.

The Working Waterfront Coalition of Whatcom County distributed the face masks, which were put together in partnership with the state’s Department of Commerce. Bornstein Seafoods, Home Port Seafoods, Taylor Shellfish Samish Bay, Drayton Harbor Seafoods, Barlean’s Fishery Inc, and Boundary Fish Company were among the facilities that received the masks.

Local seafood processing facilities have had a challenging time during this pandemic, with three fishing boats having crews that tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this year.

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 27, 2020 at 12:59 PM.