Whatcom County sees three more COVID-19 cases, state reports Monday
Three more people have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Washington State Department of Health on Monday, Aug. 24. No new deaths were reported.
Whatcom County now has had 1,057 confirmed cases and 39 deaths during the pandemic, according to the state. The new numbers mean 3.7% 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, Aug. 23.
The state also reported Monday that Whatcom County has had 82 hospitalizations.. The state did not release the number of total tests or the percent positive of those tests because it is changing the way it counts tests, according to an Aug. 12 news release. While the previous method reflected the total number of unique individuals who have been tested, the new method due the week of Aug. 24 will count every test completed, the release read.
The most recent data from the state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard, reported on Monday, Aug. 24, 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 33.3.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target rate of more than 50 individuals tested for each new confirmed case the past week with a number of 32.6.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of 2% or less of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 3.1%.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds occupied by non-COVID-19 patients with 84.7% 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 Monday that it was not treating any patients for the new coronavirus for the sixth day in a row.
U.S. and Washington state
More than 23.5 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with more than 810,249 deaths as of Monday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has over 5.73 million confirmed cases — the most reported cases of any nation — and at least 177,118 related deaths.
Overall, the Washington State Department of Health Monday afternoon reported 71,371 cases (an increase of 359), 1,867 deaths (an increase of four) and 6,542 coronavirus-related hospitalizations (an increase of 12). Approximately 2.6% of all confirmed cases in the state have resulted in death. The state did not release the number of total tests or the percent positive of those tests.
Race and ethnicity
Race and ethnicity data for Whatcom County residents testing positive for COVID-19 was updated Monday by the Whatcom County Health Department.
Hispanic residents, who can be of any race, represent 30% of the confirmed COVID-19 cases in the county — unchanged from data released Aug. 17 — though 9% of the county identifies as Hispanic.
According to the health department data, 64% of the confirmed COVID-19 cases in Whatcom County are white residents — an increase from the 62% reported Aug. 17 — though 82% of the county’s population identifies as white.
Meanwhile, 5% of confirmed cases are for residents who identify as American Indian or Alaska Native — unchanged from Aug. 17 — 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 Aug. 17 — though those races represent 5% of the county’s population.
Black residents account for 1% of the county’s COVID-19 cases — unchanged from Aug. 17 — slightly lower than the 2% of Whatcom’s total population that identifies as Black.
Ten percent of the county’s coronavirus cases were listed as “other” in the health department’s data.
Weekly location data by school district was not updated by the county health department Monday, as it customarily has been.
State’s occupational breakdown
Healthcare and social assistance, manufacturing, and agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting are the three industries in Washington state seeing higher COVID-19 infection rates than their percentage of the workforce, according to data released Sunday, Aug. 23, by the Washington State Department of Health. Not coincidentally, those three areas have seen the highest number of cases.
The new data, which was through 11:59 p.m. June 16, broke down which industries’ workers were being impacted most by lab-confirmed cases. As of that date, 12,117 of the 26,799 confirmed coronavirus cases in the state included employment information. Here is what the data showed for each occupation industry:
▪ Healthcare and social assistance: 3,389 cases (31% of all cases reported with employment information included). The industry represents 13% of the state’s employed population, according to census data.
▪ Manufacturing: 1,284 cases (12%) and represents 9% of the state’s employed population.
▪ Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting: 1,201 cases (11%) and represents 3% of the state’s employed population.
▪ Retail trade: 956 cases (9%) and represents 12% of state’s employed population.
▪ Construction: 630 cases (6%) and represents 6% of state’s employed population.
▪ Accommodation and food service: 618 cases (6%) and represents 9% of state’s employed population.
▪ Transportation and warehousing: 487 cases (4%) and represents 4% of state’s employed population.
▪ Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services: 396 cases (4%) and represents 5% of state’s employed population.
▪ Public administration: 372 cases (3%) and represents 4% of state’s employed population.
▪ Educational services: 317 cases (3%) and represents 9% of state’s employed population.
All other occupation industries represented 2% or less of the overall number of cases reported.
Whatcom County is not currently tracking similar data, Whatcom Unified Command spokesperson Marie Duckworth told The Bellingham Herald in the email, “though we are always examining the data to gain more insights about the effects of COVID-19 on our community.”
Phased reopening
Gov. 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 people. However, there can be no indoor seating at bars and taverns. Additionally, hair and nail salons and barber shops are allowed to resume business with some restrictions, and retail stores can 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. However, facilities such as pools and arcades are still not allowed. Movie theaters, libraries, museums, nightclubs, live entertainment and any kind of large gathering are also not allowed.
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 24, 2020 at 3:43 PM.
