This age group makes up a plurality of new Whatcom COVID-19 cases in the last two weeks
People ages 20 to 39 accounted for about 43% of new COVID-19 cases in Whatcom County in the last two weeks, according to age data from Washington State Department of Health.
The agency recorded 29 new COVID-19 cases in Whatcom County between Aug. 30 and Sept. 5. Of that total, people ages 20 to 39 accounted for 13 confirmed cases and people ages 0 to 19 accounted for six.
The agency also found people between 40 and 59 years old made up nine cases. Just one person between 60 and 79 years old was confirmed to have COVID-19 that week.
Similarly, people ages 20 to 39 made up 19 cases out of the 45 new cases confirmed between Aug. 23 and 29, according to the data. Meanwhile, people ages 0 to 19 accounted for 11 cases that same week.
The agency also reported nine people between 40 and 59 years old, six people between 60 and 79 years old and just one person over 80 years old were confirmed to have COVID-19 that week.
The state did not update the number of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations or deaths on Tuesday, Sept. 8. The Washington State Department of Health experienced a power outage caused by windstorm damage, impacting its services, according to a Tuesday news release.
The latest numbers available, reported Monday, Sept. 7, for data up to 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 6, show Whatcom County has had 1,145 confirmed cases during the pandemic, according to state Department of Health data. The data also shows Whatcom County has had 84 hospitalizations and completed 52,205 tests in total.
The state also reported Monday that Whatcom County had no new deaths over the weekend and has had 39 total related deaths, meaning 3.4% of people diagnosed with the new coronavirus have died.
Risk assessments
The most recent data from the state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard was also reported Monday and shows Whatcom County missing one of four Phase 2 metrics goals. A fifth, recently altered metric, does not have a goal.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target rate of fewer than 25 new cases per 100,000 residents every 14 days with a rate of 28.9.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 testing rate per 100,000 people over a week of 195.4. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 181.1.
▪ Whatcom is making the target of 2% or less of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 1.2%.
▪ 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 Tuesday that it was treating six patients for the new coronavirus — the hospital’s highest number since it reported seven patients July 25.
U.S. and Washington state
More than 27.45 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with more than 894,796 deaths as of Tuesday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 6.32 million confirmed cases — the most reported cases of any nation — and at least 189,557 related deaths.
Overall, the Washington State Department of Health Monday afternoon reported 77,545 cases (an increase of 310) and 6,913 coronavirus-related hospitalizations (an increase of 53). The state has recorded 1,573,044 total tests.
The latest numbers of statewide deaths are from Monday, with 1,953 deaths (unchanged over the weekend), indicating 2.5% 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.
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