State reports seven more positive COVID-19 cases in Whatcom County on Sunday

Another seven people tested positive for COVID-19 in Whatcom County, according to the Washington State Department of Health on Sunday, Aug. 30.

Whatcom County has now had 1,088 confirmed cases during the pandemic, according to state Department of Health data as of 11:59 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 29. The state also reported Sunday that Whatcom County has had 83 hospitalizations and completed 48,192 tests in total.

The state no longer reports the number of COVID-19 related deaths on weekends, according to a Friday news release. Deaths from the weekend will be added on Mondays and the death count will update regularly from Monday to Friday.

The latest Whatcom County death count, from Friday, Aug. 28, was 39, meaning 3.6% of people diagnosed with the new coronavirus have died.

The most recent data from the state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard was also reported Friday and shows Whatcom County missing two of four Phase 2 metrics goals. A fifth, recently altered metric, did not have a goal as of Friday.

▪ Whatcom is missing the target rate of fewer than 25 new cases per 100,000 residents every 14 days with a rate of 34.2.

▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 testing rate per 100,000 people over a week of 193. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 175.7.

▪ Whatcom is making the target of 2% or less of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 1.1%.

▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds occupied by non-COVID-19 patients with 88.2% 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 0.4% reported by the state.

St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported to The Bellingham Herald on Sunday that it was treating two patients for the new coronavirus.

U.S. and Washington state

More than 25.09 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with more than 844,118 deaths as of Sunday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has over 5.99 million confirmed cases — the most reported cases of any nation — and at least 183,005 related deaths.

Overall, the Washington State Department of Health Sunday afternoon reported 74,320 cases (an increase of 441) and 6,740 coronavirus-related hospitalizations (an increase of 17). The state has recorded 1,461,354 total tests, but it did not share the percent positive of those tests.

The latest numbers of statewide deaths are from Friday, with 1,905 deaths and a rate of 2.6% of all confirmed cases.

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 30, 2020 at 3:32 PM.