Whatcom County has one new COVID-19 case as death count fluctuates, state says Tuesday
One more Whatcom resident has tested positive for COVID-19 according to the Washington State Department of Health on Tuesday, Aug. 11. The state is again reporting 39 total deaths in the county after adjusting the number by one on Sunday and Monday.
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 40 on Saturday to 39 on Sunday, before going back up to 40 on Monday. Similar adjustments can be expected routinely, the state said last month.
Whatcom County now has had 991 confirmed cases and 39 deaths during the pandemic, according to the state. The new numbers mean 3.9% of people diagnosed with the new coronavirus in Whatcom have died — according to state Department of Health data as of 11:59 p.m. Monday, Aug. 10.
The state also reported Tuesday that Whatcom County has had 81 hospitalizations. So far, the state has completed about 31,633 tests with about 3.1 percent returning positive, according to preliminary numbers. The number of tests conducted and the percent that returned positive was not posted on the state’s COVID-19 data dashboard for five consecutive days prior to the release of these preliminary numbers.
The agency continues to provide daily updates on positive tests statewide but is “having problems with our de-duplicating processes to ensure we are not over reporting the number of negative tests,” DOH spokesperson Lisa Stromme Warren told The Seattle Times Monday.
The issues involved people who received multiple tests, according to the state’s website Tuesday.
The most recent data from the state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard, reported on Tuesday for data ending 11:59 p.m. Monday, 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.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target rate of more than 50 individuals tested for each new confirmed case the past week with a preliminary number of 33.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of 2% or less of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a preliminary rate of 3%.
▪ 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% reported by the state.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported to The Bellingham Herald on Tuesday that it was not treating any patients for the new coronavirus for the third day in a row.
U.S. and Washington state
More than 20.1 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with more than 738,668 deaths as of Tuesday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has over 5.13 million confirmed cases — the most reported cases of any nation — and at least 164,480 related deaths.
Overall, the Washington State Department of Health Tuesday evening reported 64,151 cases (an increase of 504), 1,716 deaths (an increase of 19) and 6,102 coronavirus-related hospitalizations (an increase of 53). Approximately 2.7% of all confirmed cases in the state have resulted in death. So far, the state has completed about 954,355 tests with about 6.7% returning positive, according to preliminary data.
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 11, 2020 at 5:39 PM.
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