Whatcom County sees 8 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, state says
Eight more Whatcom County residents have tested positive for COVID-19 according to the Washington State Department of Health on Wednesday, July 29. The state also removed one death from Whatcom County.
Whatcom County now has had 879 confirmed cases and 37 deaths during the pandemic, according to the state. The new numbers mean 4.2% of people diagnosed with the new coronavirus in Whatcom have died — according to state Department of Health data as of 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, July 28.
The state health department’s death data report includes different categories of deaths related to COVID-19 in an effort to collect, maintain and publish more meaningful data. That dropped the number of dead attributed to Whatcom County from 38 on Tuesday to 37 on Wednesday. Similar adjustments can be expected routinely, the state said.
The state also reported Wednesday that Whatcom County has had 76 hospitalizations and has conducted 31,065 tests, with 2.8% returning positive results.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported to The Bellingham Herald on Wednesday that it was treating 4 patients for the new coronavirus. 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 Wednesday, shows Whatcom County 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 62.1.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target rate of more than 50 individuals tested for each new confirmed case the past week with a rate of 42.6.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of 2% or less of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 2.3%.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds occupied by non-COVID-19 patients with 85.9% 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 1.6% reported by the state.
U.S. and Washington state
More than 16.9 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with more than 664,748 deaths as of Wednesday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has over 4.41 million confirmed cases — the most reported cases of any nation — and at least 150,447 related deaths.
Overall, the Washington State Department of Health Wednesday evening reported 54,985 cases (an increase of 780), 1,555 deaths (an increase of 7) and 5,476 coronavirus-related hospitalizations (an increase of 2). Approximately 2.8% of all confirmed cases in the state have resulted in death, while 5.7% of the 958,307 tests administered have come back positive for COVID-19.
New location data
The Whatcom County Health Department began releasing regional data in a new way that will better show where COVID-19 activity is highest within the county, it announced in a release Wednesday.
The health department, which has been releasing coronavirus data by school district since early June, will release the rate of infection per 100,000 residents each district has seen over the past 14 days. Previously, the infection rate was computed over the full length of the pandemic.
Washington state has set the goal for counties of having less than 25 cases per 100,000 residents over a two-week span — a goal that, with Whatcom County’s population, converts to an average of approximately four new cases per day.
The latest data, which was through Saturday, July 25, shows that the Nooksack Valley district has the county’s lowest active rate with nine new cases per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days. Nooksack has had 46 cases total.
The Meridian district (85 total cases) has the county’s highest activity rate with 186 cases per 100,000 residents over the past two weeks. It is followed by Ferndale (163 cases) and its 14-day rate of 147, Lynden (132 cases) and its 14-day rate of 54, Mount Baker (42 cases) and its 14-day rate of 44, Bellingham (330 cases) and its 14-day rate of 29 and Blaine (51 cases) and its 14-day rate of 28.
The health department also released a chart tracking how each district’s 14-day rate has fluctuated during the pandemic, though it cautioned that due to smaller population sizes, some of the county’s districts may see a lot of variability.
The new data shows how “very mobile” the virus is and that it can spike quickly, the release stated.
“Regardless of where you live or work, the best ways to keep these rates low are to continue physical distancing of at least six feet between individuals, wearing masks, frequent hand washing, and staying home when sick except to get tested,” the health department said in the release.
Phased reopening
Gov. Jay Inslee Tuesday extended the pause indefinitely on counties moving ahead in the Safe Start Washington plan.
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 29, 2020 at 7:05 PM.
