Whatcom sees eight new COVID cases Wednesday; three regions see two-week increases
Eight more Whatcom County residents have tested positive for COVID-19, the Washington State Department of Health reported Wednesday, Oct. 28, but there were no more deaths related to the respiratory illness.
Whatcom County now has seen 1,585 confirmed cases and 50 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27. 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 109 hospitalizations (an increase of one) and 78,799 tests have been performed (a decrease of 829 from what was reported Tuesday).
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard, most recently updated Wednesday for data as of 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, showed that Whatcom County is making 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 50.2.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 testing rate per 100,000 people over a week of 258.0. 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 1.2%.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds occupied by patients with 87.1% 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 1.6% reported by the state.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported to The Bellingham Herald on Wednesday that it continued to treat four patients for COVID-19.
The Lummi Tribal Health Center Tuesday evening announced via Facebook that a 70th community member has tested positive for COVID-19 during the pandemic. The Lummi health department has conducted 2,181 tests during the pandemic, and the community currently has two active cases, but has had no coronavirus-related deaths.
The Nooksack Indian Tribe health clinic, meanwhile, reports it has tested 1,286 community members during the pandemic, and as of Monday only one has come back positive.
Western Washington University’s most recent on-campus student COVID testing data shows that, since Sept. 15, WWU has tested 5,886 students, five of whom had positive tests.
Whatcom COVID location
Two Whatcom County school district regions saw their infection rates decrease significantly last week, according to the latest location data published by the Whatcom County Health Department late Tuesday, but three other regions saw increases.
The health department releases data on the location of COVID-19 positive tests by school district and, published new data on its website the number of total cases and infection rates for the past two weeks through Oct. 24.
Here is what the latest data showed for the seven regions in the county:
Bellingham: Up 4.8% (31 cases) since Oct. 20 to 676 total cases and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days remained unchanged at 44.
Blaine: Saw no new cases since Oct. 29 to stay at 98 total cases and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 57 to 34.
Ferndale: Up 4.3% (13 cases) since Oct. 20 to 317 total cases and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 78 to 81.
Lynden: Up 2.9% (six cases) since Oct. 20 to 212 total cases and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 74 to 40.
Meridian: Up 3.6% (four cases) since Oct. 20 to 114 total cases and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 65 to 74.
Mount Baker: Saw no new cases since Oct. 29 to stay at 60 total cases and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days remained unchanged at six.
Nooksack Valley: Up 4.3% (four cases) since Oct. 20 to 98 total cases and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 27 to 45.
Race and ethnicity data
For the third straight week, the percentage of Whatcom County COVID-19 cases impacting people identifying as white increased, according to the latest data released by the Whatcom County Health Department late Tuesday. People identifying as Asian, non-Hispanic were the only other group to see an increase last week.
Here is what the latest data through Oct. 27 shows:
▪ White, non-Hispanic: 58.5% of cases, up from 57.6% on Oct. 19 (represents 78.7% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Hispanic: 28.7% of cases, down from 29.5% from Oct. 19 (represents 9.5% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ American Indian/Alaska Native, non-Hispanic: 4.7% of cases, down from 4.9% from Oct. 19 (represents 2.5% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Multiracial, non-Hispanic: 2.4% of cases, unchanged from Oct. 19 (represents 3.6% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Asian, non-Hispanic: 2.2% of cases, up from 2.1% on Oct. 19 (represents 4.3% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Other race, non-Hispanic: 2.0% of cases, unchanged from Oct. 19 (represents 0.0% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Black, non-Hispanic: 1.1% of cases, down from 1.2% on Oct. 19 (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 16% of all cases do not have a known race or ethnicity.
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 28, 2020 at 3:50 PM.
