Whatcom sees 28 new COVID cases Tuesday; infection rates in 4 regions hit triple digits
Whatcom County has had 28 more residents test positive for COVID-19, the Washington State Department of Health reported on Tuesday, Nov. 17, but no new deaths were reported.
Whatcom County now has seen 1,942 confirmed cases and 52 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16. That means that 2.7% of the Whatcom residents who have tested positive for COVID during the pandemic have died.
Whatcom County wasn’t the only one to see another large increase Tuesday, as the Department of Health reported a new record high of 2,589 new cases in the state Tuesday, surpassing the old record of 2,233 set Saturday, Nov. 14. The state now has 134,121 cases.
The state Department of Health data Sunday shows Whatcom County has had 119 hospitalizations (unchanged from Monday) and 92,083 tests have been performed (an increase of 573 from what was reported Monday).
Tuesday is the sixth consecutive day with at least 20 new cases reported, including Sunday, when Whatcom saw its record high with 48 new cases.
With 332 new cases reported the past 17 days, the county already has seen more positive tests in November than in any other month during the pandemic — the previous high being 272 in July.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham, which is licensed and staffed for 241 beds, reported to The Bellingham Herald on Tuesday that it was treating six patients for COVID-19, an increase of one from Monday.
Western Washington University’s most recent on-campus student COVID testing data shows that, since Sept. 15, WWU has tested 8,236 students, 10 of whom had positive tests. Those numbers have not changed the past two days.
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard was updated Tuesday for data as of 11:59 p.m. Monday and showed that Whatcom County is missing the marks on three 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 65.2.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 testing rate per 100,000 people over a week of 286.8. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 267.6.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 2.1%.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds occupied by patients with 83.9% 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.
Whatcom COVID location
Four of Whatcom County’s seven school district regions have triple-digit infection rates, though one district actually had no new cases last week, according to the latest location data published by the Whatcom County Health Department Tuesday.
The health department releases data on the location of COVID-19 positive tests by school district and published new data on its website with each district’s number of total cases and infection rates the past two weeks through Nov. 14.
Here is what the latest data showed for the seven regions in the county:
Bellingham: Up 8.8% (66 cases) since Nov. 10 to 818 total cases and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 64 to 129.
Blaine: Saw no new cases since Nov. 10 to remain at 107 total cases, but the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days still increased from 40 to 63.
Ferndale: Up 8.5% (31 cases) since Nov. 10 to 397 total cases and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 135 to 170 — the highest rate any district has seen since 14-day infection rates began being released on July 27.
Lynden: Up 5.4% (12 cases) since Nov. 10 to 236 total cases and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 49 to 119.
Meridian: Up 16.4% (19 cases) since Nov. 10 to 135 total cases and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from nine to 56.
Mount Baker: Up 27.5% (19 cases) since Nov. 10 to 8 total cases and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 44 to 51.
Nooksack Valley: Up 6.7% (seven cases) since Nov. 10 to 112 total cases and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 63 to 108.
Race and ethnicity data
The percentage of Whatcom County COVID-19 cases impacting people identifying as Hispanic dropped for the sixth straight week, according to the latest data released by the Whatcom County Health Department Tuesday.
Here is what the latest data through Nov. 10 shows:
▪ White, non-Hispanic: 58.6% of cases, up from 58.2% on Nov. 10 (represents 78.7% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Hispanic: 27.8% of cases, down from 27.9% on Nov. 10 (represents 9.5% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ American Indian/Alaska Native, non-Hispanic: 5.3% of cases, down from 5.6% on Nov. 10 (represents 2.5% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Multiracial, non-Hispanic: 2.6% of cases, up from 2.5% on Nov. 10 (represents 3.6% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Asian, non-Hispanic: 2.2% of cases, up from 2.1% on Nov. 10 (represents 4.3% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Other race, non-Hispanic: 1.9% of cases, down from 2.1% on Nov. 10 (represents 0.0% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Black, non-Hispanic: 1.1% of cases, down from 1.2% on Nov. 10 (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 17% 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 11.3 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and 248,424 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 55.4 million reported cases and 1.3 million deaths.
Tuesday afternoon Washington state also reported these numbers from the Department of Health:
▪
▪ 9,573 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 55 from data Monday.
▪ 2,813,081 total tests, an increase of 17,345 from data Monday.
▪ 2,571 deaths related to COVID-19, 23 more than were reported Monday, meaning that 1.9% of the state residents who have tested positive for COVID during the pandemic have died.
Washington state actions
Gov. Inslee announced new rules Sunday, Nov. 15, that will go into effect statewide this week that will eliminate indoor service at restaurants and bars, close indoor activity at gyms, and limit occupancy at retail stores to 25% in an effort to curb the dramatic rise in COVID-19 cases in Washington state.
The restrictions are scheduled to last four weeks, until Dec. 14.
Inslee issued a travel advisory for Washington state on Friday, Nov. 13, recommending Washington state residents self-quarantine for 14 days when they return home after traveling out of the state. The governors of Oregon and California joined Inslee in making similar advisories for their states.
On Tuesday, Oct. 13, Inslee 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 17, 2020 at 4:11 PM.
