Whatcom County sees 12 new COVID-19 cases, state reports Sunday

Twelve more Whatcom County residents have tested positive for COVID-19, the Washington State Department of Health reported Sunday, Oct. 18. Deaths are not reported on the weekends.

The county now has seen 1,515 confirmed cases and 49 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17. That means that 3.2% of the Whatcom residents who have tested positive for COVID during the pandemic have died.

The state Department of Health data also shows Whatcom County has had 104 hospitalizations (no change from Saturday) and 73,563 tests have been performed (an increase of 507 from Saturday).

The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard, last updated Friday, for data as of 11:59 p.m. Thursday, showed that Whatcom County is making 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 48.8.

▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 testing rate per 100,000 people over a week of 234.2. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 213.5.

▪ Whatcom is making the target of less than 2% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 1.5%.

▪ Whatcom is making the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds occupied by patients with 72.5% 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 1.2% reported by the state.

St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported to The Bellingham Herald on Sunday that it was treating two patients for COVID-19, no change from Saturday.

Western Washington University’s most recent on-campus student COVID testing data continue to show that, since Sept. 15, WWU has tested 4,327 students, four of whom had positive tests.

Numbers elsewhere

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

▪ The U.S. has more than 8.14 million reported cases, the most of any nations, and 219,676 deaths.

▪ Worldwide, there are more than 39.84 million reported cases and 1.1 million deaths.

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

▪ 98,201 reported cases, an increase of 530 from data on Saturday.

▪ 8,018 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 24 from data Saturday.

▪ 2,230,785 total tests, an increase of 16,225 from data Saturday.

▪ 2,239 deaths related to COVID-19 were reported last week, meaning that 2.3% of the state residents who have tested positive for COVID during the pandemic have died. Deaths are not updated on the weekends.

Phased reopening

Gov. Inslee on Tuesday, Oct. 13, moved all counties in modified Phase 1 to Phase 2, but his July 28 extension of an indefinite pause on counties moving ahead in the Safe Start Washington plan remains in place. That came a week after Inslee loosened some restrictions for activities and businesses.

That means 22 counties — including Whatcom — are in Phase 2 and 17 counties are in Phase 3.

This story was originally published October 18, 2020 at 2:19 PM.