Whatcom sees three more COVID-19 deaths and nine new cases, state reports Monday
Three more Whatcom County residents that tested positive for COVID-19 have died, the Washington State Department of Health reported Monday, Oct. 5, and the county surpassed 1,400 confirmed cases during the pandemic.
The county now has seen 49 deaths, according to state data, nine of which have been reported in the past two weeks.
Because the Whatcom County Health Department does not release information about individual deaths, it is not known how many of those nine deaths are related to an outbreak at the Highland Health and Rehabilitation skilled nursing facility in Bellingham.
As of Tuesday, Sept. 29, the health department reported the outbreak had spread to 39 people — 23 residents and 16 staff — and that six residents had died. Though the health department said it has been working with staff at Highland since Sept. 18 to contain the outbreak, no updates on the status of the outbreak or if there have been any additional related deaths have been provided since last Tuesday.
Monday’s state Department of Health data also showed Whatcom County now has had 1,403 confirmed coronavirus cases during the pandemic — an increase of nine from Sunday — as of 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4. The data also shows Whatcom County has had 100 hospitalizations (no change from Sunday) and 65,639 tests have been performed (an increase of 738 from Sunday).
The 49 deaths mean that 3.5% of people diagnosed with coronavirus in the county have died.
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard was updated Monday, for data as of 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4, and showed that Whatcom County is missing two 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 64.8.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 testing rate per 100,000 people over a week of 223.8. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 177.1.
▪ 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 making the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds occupied by non-COVID-19 patients with 78.0% 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 Monday that it was treating three patients for COVID-19, unchanged from Sunday.
Western Washington University plans to post testing numbers daily. The most recent report is for the week of Sept. 28 and records one positive test from a total of 588 tests. Since Sept. 15, WWU reports a total of three positive cases from 2,264 tests.
Race and ethnicity data
The percentage of Whatcom County COVID-19 cases impacting people identifying as races and ethnicities other than white continued to grow over the past week, according to the latest data released by the Whatcom County Health Department Monday.
Here is what the latest data through Sept. 21 shows:
▪ White, non-Hispanic: 55.9% of cases, down from 56.6% on Sept. 28 (represents 78.7% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Hispanic: 30.8% of cases, up from 30.8% from Sept. 28 (represents 9.5% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ American Indian/Alaska Native, non-Hispanic: 4.9% of cases, down from 5.0% from Sept. 28 (represents 2.5% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Multiracial, non-Hispanic: 2.5% of cases, up from 2.3% on Sept. 28 (represents 3.6% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Asian, non-Hispanic: 2.3% of cases, down from from 2.4% on Sept. 28 (represents 4.3% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Other race, non-Hispanic: 2.2% of cases, up from 2.1% on Sept. 28 (represents 0.0% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Black, non-Hispanic: 1.0% of cases, up from 0.9% on Sept. 28 (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 18% of all cases do not have a known race or ethnicity.
The health department said county counts by school district would be released Tuesday, Oct. 6.
Numbers elsewhere
COVID-19 cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Sunday afternoon:
▪ The U.S. has more than 7.41 million reported cases, the most of any nations, and 209,749 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 35.01 million reported cases and 1.03 million deaths.
In Washington state, the most recent numbers from the Department of Health were reported Monday afternoon:
▪ 90,276 reported cases, an increase of 402 from data on Sunday.
▪ 7,622 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, decrease of six from data Sunday.
▪ 1,951,407 total tests, an increase of 15,508 from data Sunday.
▪ 2,158 deaths related to COVID-19, an increase of 16 deaths from data Friday, 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 October 5, 2020 at 3:51 PM.
