Whatcom sees 8 new COVID cases Tuesday, as three regions see infection rate increases
Eight more Whatcom County residents have tested positive for COVID-19, the Washington State Department of Health reported Tuesday, Nov. 3, but no new deaths were reported.
Whatcom County now has seen 1,637 confirmed cases and 51 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2. 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 Monday) and 82,309 tests have been performed (an increase of 1,116 from what was reported Monday).
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard reported Tuesday for data as of 11:59 p.m. Monday, 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 44.4.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 testing rate per 100,000 people over a week of 259.3. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 223.9.
▪ Whatcom is making the target of less than 2% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 1.3%.
▪ Whatcom is making the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds occupied by patients with 75.3% 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 Tuesday that it was treating four patients for COVID-19, an increase of one from Monday.
The Lummi Tribal Health Center reported on Facebook that two community members test positive for COVID-19 Monday and three more tested positive on Tuesday. That brings the total of cases within the Lummi community during the pandemic to 84, including 17 since Oct. 18. As of Monday, the Lummi health department said it had conducted 2,289 tests and had 12 active cases, but none of the 84 cases in the Lummi community had resulted in death.
Western Washington University’s most recent on-campus student COVID testing data shows that, since Sept. 15, WWU has tested 6,629 students, six of whom had positive tests.
Whatcom COVID location
Three Whatcom County school district regions saw their infection rates increase last week, according to the latest location data published by the Whatcom County Health Department late Tuesday, while three other regions saw decreases.
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. 31.
Here is what the latest data showed for the seven regions in the county:
Bellingham: Up 2.5% (17 cases) since Oct. 27 to 693 total cases and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days remained unchanged at 44.
Blaine: Up 4.1% (four cases) since Oct. 27 to 102 total cases and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 34 to 23.
Ferndale: Up 6.9% (22 cases) since Oct. 27 to 339 total cases and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 81 to 99.
Lynden: Up 0.5% (one case) since Oct. 27 to 213 total cases and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 40 to 35.
Meridian: Saw no new cases since Oct. 27 to remain at 114 total cases and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 74 to 37.
Mount Baker: Up 6.7% (four cases) since Oct. 27 to 64 total cases and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from six to 19.
Nooksack Valley: Up 2.0% (two cases) since Oct. 27 to 100 total cases and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 45 to 54.
Race and ethnicity data
The percentage of Whatcom County COVID-19 cases impacting people identifying as American Indian or Native Alaskan increased dramatically in the past week, according to the latest data released by the Whatcom County Health Department late Tuesday. The recent surge in the Lummi community is likely behind the increase.
Here is what the latest data through Nov. 3 shows:
▪ White, non-Hispanic: 58.1% of cases, down from 58.5% on Oct. 27 (represents 78.7% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Hispanic: 28.4% of cases, down from 28.7% from Oct. 27 (represents 9.5% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ American Indian/Alaska Native, non-Hispanic: 5.4% of cases, up from 4.7% from Oct. 27 (represents 2.5% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Multiracial, non-Hispanic: 2.5% of cases, up from 2.4% from Oct. 27 (represents 3.6% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Asian, non-Hispanic: 2.2% of cases, unchanged from Oct. 27 (represents 4.3% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Other race, non-Hispanic: 2.0% of cases, unchanged from Oct. 27 (represents 0.0% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Black, non-Hispanic: 1.1% of cases, unchanged from Oct. 27 (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.
Numbers elsewhere
COVID-19 cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Tuesday afternoon:
▪ The U.S. has more than 9.37 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and 232,447 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 47.3 million reported cases and 1.2 million deaths.
In Washington state, the most recent numbers from the Department of Health were reported Tuesday afternoon:
▪ 110,011 reported cases, an increase of 657 from data on Monday.
▪ 8,675 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 41 from data Monday.
▪ 2,495,151 total tests, an increase of 24,966 from data Monday.
▪ 2,400 deaths related to COVID-19, 20 more than were reported Monday, 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.
