Whatcom County sees 37 COVID-19 cases Saturday, state reports

Whatcom County has had 37 more residents test positive for COVID-19, the Washington State Department of Health reported on Saturday, Nov. 21. The state does not report deaths on the weekend.

Whatcom County now has seen 2,039 confirmed cases and 52 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20. That means that 2.6% of the Whatcom residents who have tested positive for COVID during the pandemic have died.

The state Department of Health data Saturday also shows Whatcom County has had 123 hospitalizations (no change from Friday) and 94,628 tests have been performed (an increase of 555 from what was reported Friday).

The Department of Health also announced that they are experiencing a reporting delay of 1-2 days due to an increased volume of lab test results.

St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham, which is licensed and staffed for 241 beds, reported to The Bellingham Herald on Saturday that it was treating 11 patients for COVID-19, an increase of four from Friday and the most COVID-19 patients since it began sharing patient numbers on May 5.

The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard was last updated Friday for data as of 11:59 p.m. Thursday 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 84.3.

▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 testing rate per 100,000 people over a week of 305.6. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 281.5.

▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 2.4%.

▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds occupied by patients with 85.1% 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 3.1% reported by the state.

Numbers elsewhere

COVID-19 cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Saturday afternoon:

▪ The U.S. has more than 12.05 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and 255,800 deaths.

▪ Worldwide, there are more than 58.01 million reported cases and 1.37 million deaths.

Saturday afternoon Washington state also reported these numbers from the Department of Health:

▪ 141,260 reported cases, an increase of 1,717 from data on Friday.

▪ 9,765 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 48 from data Friday.

▪ 2,894,367 total tests, an increase of 16,473 from data Friday.

▪ 2,619 deaths related to COVID-19 were reported Friday, 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 21, 2020 at 5:01 PM.