Whatcom sees seven new COVID-19 cases Saturday, state reports

Seven more Whatcom County residents have tested positive for COVID-19, the Washington State Department of Health reported on Saturday, Oct. 3. New deaths are not reported on the weekends.

Whatcom County now has had 1,384 confirmed cases during the pandemic, according to state Department of Health data as of 11:59 p.m. Friday, Oct. 2. The data also shows Whatcom County has had 100 hospitalizations (no change from Friday) and 64,486 tests have been performed (an increase of 473 from Friday).

The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard was last updated Friday, for data as of 11:59 p.m. Thursday, 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 71.

▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 testing rate per 100,000 people over a week of 223.5. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 170.2.

▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 2.6%.

▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds occupied by non-COVID-19 patients with 84.7% 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 1.2% reported by the state.

St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported to The Bellingham Herald on Saturday that it was treating four patients for COVID-19.

Numbers elsewhere

COVID-19 cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Saturday afternoon:

▪ The U.S. has more than 7.37 million reported cases, the most of any nations, and 209,284 deaths.

▪ Worldwide, there are more than 34.7 million reported cases and 1.03 million deaths.

In Washington state, the most recent numbers from the Department of Health were reported Saturday afternoon:

▪ 89,419 reported cases, an increase of 609 from data on Friday.

▪ 7,611 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 25 from data Friday.

▪ 1,922,956 total tests, an increase of 17,197 from data Friday.

▪ 2,142 deaths related to COVID-19, a decrease of 1 death from data Friday, indicating 2.4% of people with confirmed cases have died. New deaths are not released on the weekends.

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.