Whatcom County has 1 new death, 12 new COVID-19 cases, state reports on Saturday

One Whatcom resident who tested positive for COVID-19 died and twelve others have tested positive for the new coronavirus according to the Washington State Department of Health on Saturday, Aug. 8.

Whatcom County now has had 982 confirmed cases and 40 deaths, four in the last 12 days, during the pandemic, according to the state. The new numbers mean 4.1% of people diagnosed with the new coronavirus in Whatcom have died — according to state Department of Health data as of 11:59 p.m. Friday, Aug. 7.

The state also reported Saturday that Whatcom County has had 81 hospitalizations. The number of tests conducted and the percent that returned positive was not posted on the state’s COVID-19 data dashboard for a third day.

The most recent data from the state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard, reported on Friday for data ending 5:30 p.m. Thursday, 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 61.7.

▪ 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 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 0.8% reported by the state.

St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported to The Bellingham Herald on Saturday that it was treating one patient for the new coronavirus.

U.S. and Washington state

More than 19.4 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with more than 723,693 deaths as of Saturday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has over 4.99 million confirmed cases — the most reported cases of any nation — and at least 162,381 related deaths.

Overall, the Washington State Department of Health Saturday afternoon reported 62,523 cases (an increase of 936), 1,688 deaths (an increase of 16) and 5,896 coronavirus-related hospitalizations (an increase of 6). Approximately 2.7% of all confirmed cases in the state have resulted in death, while the number of tests given and percent positive were not available.

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 8, 2020 at 5:01 PM.