Whatcom sees 19 new COVID-19 cases Monday, issues warning about holiday gatherings
Nineteen more Whatcom County residents have tested positive for COVID-19, the Washington State Department of Health reported Monday, Nov. 9, but no new deaths were reported over the weekend.
Whatcom County now has seen 1,715 confirmed cases and 51 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8. That means that 3.0% of the Whatcom residents who have tested positive for COVID during the pandemic have died.
Monday marked the seventh day the county has seen a double-digit increase in new cases in the past 10 days.
“The increases are concerning,” Whatcom County Health Department Director Erika Lautenbach said during an online media briefing Monday. “We’re hoping that it’s not part of a fall surge, but the case increases we’ve seen are certainly part of the trends we’ve seen elsewhere.”
Lautenbach said that during October, when the county saw its cases increase by 255 (approximately 8.23 per day) and five related deaths, approximately 80% of Whatcom County’s new cases were transmitted either within households or at social gatherings. The rest were seen in more formal gatherings, such as in workplaces or at schools, Lautenbach said.
The state Department of Health data Monday shows Whatcom County has had 115 hospitalizations (an increase of two from Sunday) and 86,031 tests have been performed (an increase of 719 from what was reported Sunday).
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported to The Bellingham Herald on Monday that it was treating six patients for COVID-19, a decrease of one from Sunday.
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard reported Monday for data as of 11:59 p.m. Sunday showed that Whatcom County is making two of four key 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 47.9.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 testing rate per 100,000 people over a week of 264.2. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 238.5.
▪ Whatcom is making the target of less than 2% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 1.2%.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds occupied by patients with 91.0% 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 2.4% reported by the state.
Western Washington University’s most recent on-campus student COVID testing data shows that, since Sept. 15, WWU has tested 7,411 students, six of whom had positive tests.
Holiday transmission
Approximately one in three COVID-19 cases in Whatcom County during the month of October could be linked to a Whatcom County resident traveling out of the area or a resident from outside the area traveling to Whatcom County, Lautenbach said during the briefing.
“We’re not an island in Whatcom County,” Lautenbach said. “The trends we see statewide and elsewhere, we’re not immune to seeing them here at home.”
That is particularly important as the pandemic enters its eighth month in the region and the holiday season approaches with Thanksgiving only weeks away.
To help limit the disease transmission, Lautenbach said the Whatcom County Health Department is recommending residents celebrate at home and find “creative” ways to safely celebrate — perhaps even finding new traditions in the process.
“Staying home with just your own household is the safest way to celebrate,” Lautenbach said in a release. “But there are ways to enjoy the season and perhaps launch some new traditions.”
The release offered these suggestions:
▪ Limiting the number of guests at holiday gatherings and being mindful of children.
▪ Quarantine or limit social interactions for 14 days prior to a holiday gatherings with people outside your household.
▪ Communicate with guests what is expected before they arrive and encourage them to wear masks and socially distance.
▪ Ask guests to take their temperature before arriving and stay home if they feel symptomatic.
▪ Develop a food plan for guests, such as asking them to bring their own food or create individual servings.
▪ Clean the gathering area thoroughly before and after use.
For those planning to travel, Lautenbach advised monitoring the COVID-19 status in the area where they will travel, always wearing a mask, maintaining good social distancing and hygiene habits and considering quarantining for two weeks when they return. If you do feel symptoms, she added “get tested right away — don’t wait to see if it might be a cold or the flu.”
“This will be a different holiday season,” Lautenbach said during the briefing. “It will require us to be creative and change our holiday traditions, but if we can do that, we can all stay safe.”
Vaccine shows strong results
Pfizer Inc. said Monday that its COVID-19 vaccine may be a remarkable 90% effective, based on early and incomplete test results that nevertheless brought a big burst of optimism to a world desperate for the means to finally bring the catastrophic outbreak under control.
The announcement came less than a week after an election seen as a referendum on President Donald Trump’s handling of the scourge, which has killed more than 1.2 million people worldwide, including almost a quarter-million in the United States alone.
“We’re in a position potentially to be able to offer some hope,” Dr. Bill Gruber, Pfizer’s senior vice president of clinical development, told The Associated Press. “We’re very encouraged.”
The news was called “promising” by Whatcom County Health Department Communicable Disease and Epidemiology Manager Cindy Hollinsworth during Monday’s briefing.
“We know for a successful vaccination, this is a first step,” Hollinsworth said, “but their are multiple critical components still to be accomplished.”
Hollinsworth said the health department continued to work with the state health department on how a vaccine will be distributed in Whatcom County once it is available and promised “local updates on when and where it will be distributed as details take shape.”
Numbers elsewhere
COVID-19 cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Monday afternoon:
▪ The U.S. has more than 10 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and 238,053 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 50.7 million reported cases and 1.26 million deaths.
In Washington state, the most recent numbers from the Department of Health were reported Monday afternoon:
▪ 118,570 reported cases, an increase of 1,239 from data on Sunday.
▪ 9,031 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 228 from data Sunday.
▪ 2,627,515 total tests, an increase of 15,317 from data Sunday.
▪ 2,460 deaths related to COVID-19, 21 more than were reported Friday, meaning that 2.1% 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 9, 2020 at 5:08 PM.
