Whatcom sees sees biggest jump in nearly a month with 18 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday
Eighteen more Whatcom County residents have tested positive for COVID-19, the Washington State Department of Health reported Wednesday, Nov. 4, but no new deaths were reported.
Whatcom County now has seen 1,655 confirmed cases and 51 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3. That means that 3.1% of the Whatcom residents who have tested positive for COVID during the pandemic have died.
The 18 new cases reported Wednesday were the biggest single-day gain the county has seen since 21 were announced on Oct. 8 (the 26 cases reported Oct. 13 came after the state did not release data for three days due to a data processing error).
The state Department of Health data also shows Whatcom County has had 109 hospitalizations (no change from Tuesday) and 83,104 tests have been performed (an increase of 795 from what was reported Tuesday).
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard reported 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 46.6.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 testing rate per 100,000 people over a week of 258.4. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 225.5.
▪ Whatcom is making the target of less than 2% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 1.4%.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds occupied by patients with 88.2% 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 Wednesday that it was treating three patients for COVID-19, a decrease of one from Tuesday.
The Lummi Tribal Health Center reported on Facebook Wednesday that another community member has tested positive for COVID-19. That brings the total of cases within the Lummi community during the pandemic to 85, including 18 since Oct. 18 or an average of one a day. As of Tuesday, the Lummi health department said it had conducted 2,312 tests and had 15 active cases, but none of the 85 cases in the Lummi community had resulted in death and only three had resulted in hospitalization.
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’s October numbers
For the second straight month and the third time during the pandemic, Whatcom County averaged more than eight new coronavirus cases per day during October.
With 255 new cases during the month, Whatcom County averaged 8.23 positive tests per day. That was the third-highest rate the county has had in a month since the first case was announced March 10, behind only 8.43 cases per day in September and an average of 8.77 in July. The county’s lowest average was 2.94 in May.
The 255 cases in October was the county’s second-highest total in a month, behind only the 272 seen in July.
Whatcom County also had five COVID-related deaths reported in October, one less than the county saw reported in September.
Numbers elsewhere
COVID-19 cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Wednesday afternoon:
▪ The U.S. has more than 9.47 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and 233,596 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 47.9 million reported cases and 1.2 million deaths.
In Washington state, the most recent numbers from the Department of Health were reported Wednesday afternoon:
▪ 111,480 reported cases, an increase of 1,469 from data on Tuesday.
▪ 8,735 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 60 from data Tuesday.
▪ 2,519,494 total tests, an increase of 24,343 from data Tuesday.
▪ 2,416 deaths related to COVID-19, 16 more than were reported Tuesday, 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 November 4, 2020 at 4:29 PM.
