Whatcom sees one death related to COVID-19 and two new cases Wednesday, state reports
One more Whatcom County resident has died after testing positive for COVID-19, the Washington State Department of Health reported on Wednesday, Sept. 30, and two more people have tested positive.
The death reported Wednesday was the third coronavirus-related death reported in the county the past three days, the fifth since Sept. 22 and it brings the county’s total to 45 during the pandemic. With the new deaths, 3.3% of the people who tested positive for COVID-19 in Whatcom County have died.
On Tuesday, Sept. 29, the Whatcom County Health Department reported that six residents at Bellingham’s Highland Health and Rehabilitation center had died after testing positive in an outbreak that has infected 23 residents and 16 staff members at the skilled nursing facility.
Because the health department does not release information about individual deaths, it is not known how many of the five deaths reported since Sept. 22 are linked to the Highland Health outbreak.
Whatcom County now has had 1,355 confirmed cases during the pandemic, according to state Department of Health data as of 11:59 p.m. Tuesday. The data also shows Whatcom County has had 97 hospitalizations (no change from Tuesday) and 62,925 tests have been performed (an increase of 562 from Tuesday).
The two positive test results reported Wednesday bring the county’s total of reported infections for the month of September to 253 — or an average of 8.43 per day. That rate is the county’s second-highest during the pandemic, behind only the rate of 8.77 per day in July, when the county had 272 total infections reported.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported to The Bellingham Herald on Wednesday that it was treating three patients for COVID-19.
Whatcom risk assessment
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard was updated Wednesday, for data as of 11:59 p.m. Tuesday 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 61.3.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 testing rate per 100,000 people over a week of 205.0. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 161.1.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 2.4%.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds occupied by non-COVID-19 patients with 89.8% 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 1.2% reported by the state.
WWU testing dashboard
The Western Washington University Student Health Center has launched a new dashboard to show the COVID-19 testing results of students at the school. The dashboard shows the number of WWU students tested and the number of positive tests in the past week and total.
As of Wednesday morning, the dashboard was reporting 1,676 students have been tested and only two tests have come back positive, including 794 tests and one positive the week of Sept. 21.
All students living on campus were tested upon arrival, according to the campus advisory on the dashboard, and surveillance testing using pooled samples will continue every two weeks through the end of the quarter.
The dashboard will be expanded in coming weeks to include additional metrics that impact the campus community, according to the advisory.
The advisory also reminded students to:
▪ Practice the three W’s — wear a mask, wash hands and watch their distance.
▪ Check their health status with the daily symptom checker at mywesternhealth.wwu.edu.
▪ Prepare to have COVID tests every two weeks at the on-campus testing facility at Fraser Hall.
▪ Meet friends outdoors and in small groups.
▪ Be prepared to show their green QR badge on their phone to professors if they request to see a student’s green attestation and testing date status.
Numbers elsewhere
COVID-19 cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Wednesday afternoon:
▪ The U.S. has more than 7.22 million reported cases, the most of any nations, and 206,693 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 33.8 million reported cases and 1.01 million deaths.
In Washington state, the most recent numbers from the Department of Health were reported Wednesday afternoon:
▪ 87,522 reported cases, an increase of 480 from data on Tuesday.
▪ 7,533 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 50 from data Tuesday.
▪ 1,868,089 total tests, an increase of 13,690 from data Tuesday.
▪ 2,126 deaths related to COVID-19, an increase of two deaths from data Tuesday, 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.
