Whatcom sees one additional death, 11 new COVID-19 cases, state says Monday
One more person has died after testing positive for COVID-19 and 11 more Whatcom County residents have tested positive for the respiratory disease, the Washington State Department of Health reported Monday, Oct. 26.
Whatcom County now has seen 1,576 confirmed cases and 50 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25. 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 108 hospitalizations (no change from Sunday) and 78,356 tests have been performed (an increase of 558 from Saturday).
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard, most recently updated Monday for data as of 11:59 p.m. Sunday, 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 51.0.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 testing rate per 100,000 people over a week of 253.5. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 219.8.
▪ Whatcom is making the target of less than 2% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 1.35%.
▪ Whatcom is making the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds occupied by patients with 69.8% 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 0.8% reported by the state.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported to The Bellingham Herald on Monday that it was treating two patients for COVID-19, no change from Sunday.
Western Washington University’s most recent on-campus student COVID testing data shows that, since Sept. 15, WWU has tested 5,364 students, five of whom had positive tests.
The university announced Monday that staff members working onsite at Western’s main location in Bellingham at least once a week are now able to get free, voluntary COVID-19 testing, primarily at Northwest Labs on Meridian Street.
Numbers elsewhere
COVID-19 cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Monday afternoon:
▪ The U.S. has more than 8.69 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and 225,634 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 43.3 million reported cases and 1.57 million deaths.
In Washington state, the most recent numbers from the Department of Health were reported Monday afternoon:
▪ 103,500 reported cases, an increase of 587 from data on Sunday.
▪ 8,322 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 42 from data Sunday.
▪ 2,372,596 total tests, an increase of 12,209 from data Sunday.
▪ 2,321 deaths related to COVID-19, 25 more than were reported Friday, Oct. 23, meaning that 2.2% of the state residents who have tested positive for COVID during the pandemic have died.
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 26, 2020 at 4:47 PM.
