State reports eight more positive COVID-19 cases in Whatcom County on Saturday

Eight more people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Whatcom County, according to the Washington State Department of Health on Saturday, Sept. 5. No new deaths were reported.

Whatcom County now has had 1,133 confirmed cases during the pandemic, according to state Department of Health data as of 11:59 p.m. Friday, Sept. 4. The data also shows Whatcom County has had 84 hospitalizations and completed 51,377 tests in total.

The state also reported Friday that Whatcom County has had 39 related deaths, meaning 3.4% 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 one 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 29.3

▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 testing rate per 100,000 people over a week of 199.3. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 180.5.

▪ Whatcom is making the target of 2% or less of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 1.0%.

▪ Whatcom is making the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds occupied by non-COVID-19 patients with 68.2% 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 0.8% reported by the state.

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

U.S. and Washington state

More than 26.73 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with more than 876,842 deaths as of Saturday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 6.24 million confirmed cases — the most reported cases of any nation — and at least 188,501 related deaths.

Overall, the Washington State Department of Health Saturday afternoon reported 76,836 cases (an increase of 501) and 6,842 coronavirus-related hospitalizations (an decrease of 6). The state has recorded 1,550,477 total tests.

The latest numbers of statewide deaths are from Friday, with 1,953 deaths (an increase of eight), indicating 2.6% of people with confirmed cases have died.

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.