Whatcom sees 14 new COVID cases Saturday, state reports
Fourteen more Whatcom County residents have tested positive for COVID-19, the Washington State Department of Health reported Saturday, Oct. 31. New deaths are not recorded on the weekends.
Whatcom County now has seen 1,610 confirmed cases and 50 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30. That means that 3.1% 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 (no change from Friday) and 80,502 tests have been performed (an increase of of 584 from what was reported Friday).
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard, last updated Friday for data as of 11:59 p.m. Thursday, 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 53.3.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 testing rate per 100,000 people over a week of 259.8. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 224.7.
▪ 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 missing the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds occupied by patients with 87.5% 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 1.6% reported by the state.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported to The Bellingham Herald on Saturday that it was treating three patients for COVID-19, a decrease of one from Friday.
Western Washington University’s most recent on-campus student COVID testing data shows that, since Sept. 15, WWU has tested 6,345 students, five of whom had positive tests.
Numbers elsewhere
COVID-19 cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Saturday afternoon:
▪ The U.S. has more than 9.1 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and 230,281 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 45.9 million reported cases and 1.93 million deaths.
In Washington state, the most recent numbers from the Department of Health were reported Saturday afternoon:
▪ 107,501 reported cases, an increase of 928 from data on Friday.
▪ 8,571 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 49 from data Friday.
▪ 2,450,122 total tests, an increase of 23,737 from data Friday.
▪ 2,366 deaths related to COVID-19, seven more than were reported Thursday, meaning that 2.2% of the state residents who have tested positive for COVID during the pandemic have died. New deaths are not recorded 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.
