One district sees COVID-19 case rate increase; one death in Whatcom reported Tuesday
One person died and no new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Whatcom County, according to the Washington State Department of Health on Tuesday, Aug. 25.
Whatcom County has now had 1,057 confirmed cases and 40 deaths during the pandemic, according to the state. The new numbers mean 3.8% 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. 24. The state also reported Tuesday that Whatcom County has had 83 hospitalizations and completed 45,671 tests in total.
The state stopped providing the number of unique individuals tested or the percent positive of those tests Aug. 12. It now counts every test completed. With this change, the percent positive is likely to decrease relative to recent trends, according to a state news release Tuesday.
The state also added a daily testing rate metric on the risk assessment dashboard to understand per capita testing levels, according to the news release. The additional metric replaced a metric accounting for the number of individuals tested for each new case, the release read, and the state is not providing a target for this metric at this time.
The most recent data from the state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard, reported on Tuesday, Aug. 25, shows Whatcom County missing two of four Phase 2 metrics goals. A fifth, recently altered metric, did not have a goal as of Tuesday.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target rate of fewer than 25 new cases per 100,000 residents every 14 days with a rate of 44.8.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 testing rate per 100,000 people over a week of 195.9. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 180.7.
▪ Whatcom is making the target of 2% or less of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 1.3%.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds occupied by non-COVID-19 patients with 91.4% 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 seventh day in a row.
U.S. and Washington state
More than 23.7 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with more than 815,520 deaths as of Tuesday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has over 5.76 million confirmed cases — the most reported cases of any nation — and at least 178,140 related deaths.
Overall, the Washington State Department of Health Tuesday afternoon reported 71,705 cases (an increase of 334), 1,876 deaths (an increase of nine) and 6,595 coronavirus-related hospitalizations (an increase of 53). Approximately 2.6% of all confirmed cases in the state have resulted in death and the state has recorded 1,380,104 total tests. However, the state did not share the percent positive of those tests.
Whatcom’s COVID case locations
Only one of Whatcom County’s seven school district regions saw its coronavirus infection totals raise by double-digit numbers in the past eight days, while another saw its rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days dip into single digits.
The Whatcom County Health Department, which releases data on the location of COVID-19 positive tests by school district, published new data on its website Tuesday, Aug. 25.
Every region other than Bellingham, which is the county’s most populated region, had no more than three new cases the past eight days, though one other region did see its rate of new cases per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increase.
Here is what the latest data showed for the seven regions in the county:
Bellingham: Up 2.5% (10 cases) since Aug. 17 to 413 cases and the rate of new cases per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 37 to 25.
Blaine: Up 5.2% (three cases) since Aug. 17 to 61 cases and the rate of new cases per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 23 to 17.
Ferndale: Up 1.5% (three cases) since Aug. 17 to 204 cases and the rate of new cases per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 36 to 21.
Lynden: Up 0.6% (one case) since Aug. 17 to 161 cases and the rate of new cases per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 84 to 54.
Meridian: Up 2.2% (two cases) since Aug. 17 to 94 cases and the rate of new cases per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 46 to 54.
Mount Baker: Had no new cases since Aug. 17 to remain at 51 cases and the rate of new cases per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 19 to six.
Nooksack Valley: Up 1.6% (one case) since Aug. 17 to 62 cases and the rate of new cases per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 72 to 18.
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 25, 2020 at 5:51 PM.
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