State reports eight more positive COVID-19 cases in Whatcom County on Wednesday
Eight more people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Whatcom County, according to the Washington State Department of Health on Wednesday, Sept. 2. No new deaths were reported.
Whatcom County has now had 1,114 confirmed cases during the pandemic, according to state Department of Health data as of 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 1. The data also shows Whatcom County has had 84 hospitalizations and completed 4,9711 tests in total.
The state also reported Wednesday that Whatcom County has had 39 related deaths, meaning 3.5% of people diagnosed with the new coronavirus have died.
The most recent data from the state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard was also reported Wednesday and shows Whatcom County missing two of four Phase 2 metrics goals. A fifth, recently altered metric, did not have a goal as of Wednesday.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target rate of fewer than 25 new cases per 100,000 residents every 14 days with a rate of 30.2
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 testing rate per 100,000 people over a week of 193.2. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 175.8.
▪ Whatcom is making the target of 2% or less of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 0.8%.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds occupied by non-COVID-19 patients with 80.4% 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 0.8% reported by the state.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported to The Bellingham Herald on Wednesday that it was treating one patient for the new coronavirus.
U.S. and Washington state
More than 25.86 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with more than 859,378 deaths as of Wednesday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 6.1 million confirmed cases — the most reported cases of any nation — and at least 185,594 related deaths.
Overall, the Washington State Department of Health Wednesday afternoon reported 75,377 cases (an increase of 438) and 6,795 coronavirus-related hospitalizations (an increase of eight). The state has recorded 1,496,353 total tests.
The latest numbers of statewide deaths are from Wednesday, with 1,935 deaths (an increase of four), indicating 2.6% of people with confirmed cases have died..
Spark Museum reopens
After nearly six months of being closed because of COVID-19, the Spark Museum of Electrical Invention announced it will reopen to the public on Wednesday, Sept. 9, with health and safety protocols in place.
Those include a requirement that visitors, volunteers and staff wear masks, fewer people be in the museum’s galleries and its MegaZapper show, physical distancing and sanitation stations with hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes.
The museum closed March 16.
Its reopening is possible under Gov. Jay Inslee’s amended guidelines for museums that are in Phase 2 or Phase 3 of his Safe Start plan.
Whatcom Museum previously announced that it will reopen on Saturday, Sept. 19.
More details are at sparkmuseum.org, abby@sparkmuseum.org or 360-738-3886.
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 September 2, 2020 at 3:49 PM.
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