Whatcom County sees six more COVID-19 cases, state reports Thursday
Six more Whatcom County residents have tested positive for COVID-19, the Washington State Department of Health reported on Thursday, Sept. 24. No new deaths were reported.
Whatcom County now has had 1,308 confirmed cases during the pandemic, according to state Department of Health data as of 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 23. The data also shows Whatcom County has had 95 hospitalizations (unchanged from Wednesday) and 59,964 tests have been performed (an increase of 2,188 from Wednesday).
With 42 deaths, 3.2% of people diagnosed with the new coronavirus in Whatcom County have died. The county’s last COVID-related deaths were reported Tuesday, Sept. 22, with two reported that day.
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard reported Thursday evening, for data as of 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, that Whatcom County is missing three of four Phase 2 metrics goals.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target rate of fewer than 25 new cases per 100,000 residents every 14 days with a rate of 46.6.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 testing rate per 100,000 people over a week of 169.0. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 152.2.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of 2% or less of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 2.3%.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds occupied by non-COVID-19 patients with 86.7% 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 1.6% reported by the state.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported to The Bellingham Herald on Thursday that it was treating four patients.
Numbers elsewhere
COVID-19 cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Thursday afternoon:
▪ The U.S. has more than 6.97 million reported cases, the most of any nations, and 202,692 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 32 million reported cases and 980,299 deaths.
In Washington state, the most recent numbers from the Department of Health were reported Thursday afternoon:
▪ 84,238 reported cases, an increase of 536 from data on Wednesday.
▪ 7,357 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of eight from data Wednesday.
▪ 1,783,279 total tests, an increase of 39,983 from data Wednesday.
▪ 2,080 deaths, a decrease of one reported on Wednesday, indicating 2.5% of people with confirmed cases have died.
Lummi extends shelter order
The Lummi Nation announced in a Facebook post Thursday that it has extended its Phase II Shelter in Place Order through Oct. 30.
Members of the Lummi community who are at high risk are urged to stay in their homes as much as possible, social distancing and face masks are required for everyone and gatherings of no more than 10 people outside one’s household are permitted. Travel also is limited to areas of Washington state not currently seeing high COVID-19 infection rates.
On Tuesday, the Lummi Public Health Department announced that two more community members had tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the Lummi community’s total for the pandemic to 63.
Testing shut with wind forecast
With gale-force winds forecast for Friday, Sept. 25, Whatcom Unified Command has canceled drive-thru testing planned for 9 a.m. to noon at Bender Fields in Lynden, according to the Thursday evening news release. Testing from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. will continue Friday at the Sikh Temple on East Pole Road in Lynden.
Those whose appointments are canceled are asked to register for a testing appointment at another time online at testdirectly.com/whatcom.
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.
This story was originally published September 24, 2020 at 4:49 PM.
