Whatcom sees 7 more COVID-19 cases Monday, as outbreak at long-care facility revealed
Seven more Whatcom County residents have tested positive for COVID-19, the Washington State Department of Health reported on Monday, Sept. 28. No new deaths were reported.
Whatcom County now has had 1,345 confirmed cases during the pandemic, according to state Department of Health data as of 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27. The data also shows Whatcom County has had 97 hospitalizations (no change from Sunday) and 62,018 tests have been performed (an increase of 574 from Sunday).
With 42 deaths, 3.1% 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.
Whatcom County has seen 141 new cases the past two weeks.
Erika Lautenbach, director for the Whatcom County Health Department, said the increase in cases can be attributed in part to what she said was a “pretty profound outbreak” at a long-term care facility that the department is working with pretty closely.
She didn’t name the facility or provide additional details about the outbreak during her COVID-19 update to the Bellingham City Council on Monday, Sept. 28.
There continues to be cases among late teens and others in their 20s, she said.
She also noted that when there has been employee spread of COVID-19 within a business, it has been partially due to employees having lunch breaks together in a break room or taking a smoke break together.
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard was updated Monday, for data as of 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27, and showed 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 54.2.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 testing rate per 100,000 people over a week of 188.4. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 157.8.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 2.0%.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds occupied by non-COVID-19 patients with 83.5% 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 Monday that it was treating one patient for COVID-19.
Whatcom COVID case locations
Three of Whatcom County’s seven school district regions saw their infection rates increase dramatically the past week, according to data released by the Whatcom County Health Department.
The health department releases data on the location of COVID-19 positive tests by school district and, published new data on its website Monday, Sept. 28, with new data through Sept. 26.
While three regions showed their rate of new cases per 100,000 residents over the past 14 days decrease from a week earlier, the Bellingham, Blaine and Nooksack Valley districts all saw significant increases.
Here is what the latest data showed for the seven regions in the county:
Bellingham: Up 8.0% (41 cases) since Sept. 212to 554 total cases and the rate of new cases per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 38 to 60.
Blaine: Up 9.6% (seven cases) since Sept. 21 to 80 total cases and the rate of new cases per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 28 to 68.
Ferndale: Up 3.9% (10 cases) since Sept. 21 to 266 total cases and the rate of new cases per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 102 to 54.
Lynden: Up 3.9% (seven cases) since Sept. 21 to 186 total cases and the rate of new cases per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 59 to 35.
Meridian: Up 1.0% (one case) since Sept. 21 to 99 total cases and the rate of new cases per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days stayed at nine.
Mount Baker: Saw no new cases since Sept. 21 to stay at 59 total cases and the rate of new cases per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 32 to six.
Nooksack Valley: Up 12.7% (nine cases) since Sept. 21 to 80 total cases and the rate of new cases per 100,000 residents in the past 14 increased from 36 to 108.
Race and ethnicity data
The percentage of Whatcom County COVID-19 cases impacting people identifying as races and ethnicities other than white remained relatively unchanged over the past week, according to the latest data released by the Whatcom County Health Department Monday.
For the first time, there were enough cases affecting Black, non-Hispanic people that the health department was able to report the data. When case numbers are below set standards, data is suppressed under state Department of Health guidelines to protect patient privacy.
Here is what the latest data through Sept. 21 shows:
▪ White, non-Hispanic: 56.6% of cases, down from 56.7% on Sept. 21 (represents 78.7% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Hispanic: 30.3% of cases, unchanged from Sept. 21 (represents 9.5% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ American Indian/Alaska Native, non-Hispanic: 5.0% of cases, unchanged from Sept. 21 (represents 2.5% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Asian, non-Hispanic: 2.4% of cases, increased from 2.4% on Sept. 21 (represents 4.3% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Multiracial, non-Hispanic: 2.3% of cases, up from 2.2% on Sept. 21 (represents 3.6% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Other race, non-Hispanic: 2.1% of cases, down from 2.2% on Sept. 21 (represents 0.0% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Black, non-Hispanic: 0.9% of cases (represents 1.0% of Whatcom’s total population.
▪ Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic: Suppressed (represents 0.3% of Whatcom’s total population).
Approximately 17% of all cases do not have a known race or ethnicity.
Numbers elsewhere
COVID-19 cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Monday evening:
▪ The U.S. has more than 7.14 million reported cases, the most of any nations, and 205,031 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 33.2 million reported cases and 1.0 million deaths.
In Washington state, the most recent numbers from the Department of Health were reported Monday evening:
▪ 86,638 reported cases, an increase of 369 from data on Sunday.
▪ 7,477 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 22 from data Sunday.
▪ 11,848,463 total tests, an increase of 11,257 from data Sunday.
▪ 2,100 deaths related to COVID-19, unchanged from data reported Thursday, Sept. 24, indicating 2.4% 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.
This story was originally published September 28, 2020 at 6:40 PM.
