Whatcom sees 16 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, state reports
Sixteen more Whatcom County residents have tested positive for COVID-19 according to the Washington State Department of Health on Wednesday, Aug. 5. No new deaths were reported.
Whatcom County now has had 957 confirmed cases and 38 deaths during the pandemic, according to the state. The new numbers mean 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. Tuesday, Aug. 4.
The state also reported Wednesday that Whatcom County has had 80 hospitalizations and has conducted 32,718 tests, with 2.9% returning positive results.
The most recent data from the state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard, reported on Wednesday for data ending 11:59 p.m. Tuesday shows Whatcom County missing three 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 63.9.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target rate of more than 50 individuals tested for each new confirmed case the past week with a rate of 39.8.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of 2% or less of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 2.5%.
▪ Whatcom is making the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds occupied by non-COVID-19 patients with 79.6% 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 0.8% reported by the state.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported to The Bellingham Herald on Wednesday that it was treating one patient for the new coronavirus.
U.S. and Washington state
More than 18.6 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with more than 703,320 deaths as of Wednesday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has over 4.81 million confirmed cases — the most reported cases of any nation — and at least 157,854 related deaths.
Overall, the Washington State Department of Health Wednesday afternoon reported 60,084 cases (an increase of 705), 1,624 deaths (an increase of 5) and 5,840 coronavirus-related hospitalizations (an increase of 61). Approximately 2.7% of all confirmed cases in the state have resulted in death, while 5.9% of the 1,010,191 tests administered have come back positive for COVID-19.
Prevention practices poll
Whatcom County is seeking to understand people’s choices about prevention practices such as limiting social gatherings or wearing masks in public or social settings with an online survey created with researchers at Western Washington University.
This survey is anonymous and takes less than 10 minutes to complete. It’s available online at tinyurl.com/y44tda6e.
Phased reopening
Gov. Jay Inslee July 28 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 August 5, 2020 at 4:34 PM.
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