Whatcom sees 88 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, county health department bracing for surge
Whatcom County saw a record 88 more residents test positive for COVID-19, the Washington State Department of Health reported on Tuesday, Nov. 24. No new deaths were reported.
Whatcom County now has seen 2,208 confirmed cases and 53 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Monday, Nov. 23. That means that 2.4% of the Whatcom residents who have tested positive for COVID during the pandemic have died.
The state Department of Health data Tuesday also shows Whatcom County has had 129 hospitalizations (an increase of two from Monday’s report).
The Department of Health did not release test numbers Tuesday. It announced Saturday, Nov. 21, that it was experiencing a reporting delay of 1-2 days due to an increased volume of lab test results. Its website now states it has paused reporting test numbers until Monday, Nov. 30 to clear a backlog of tests.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham, which is licensed and staffed for 241 beds, reported to The Bellingham Herald on Tuesday that it was treating 17 patients for COVID-19, a decrease of one from Monday’s record high.
The Lummi Tribal Health Center on Monday reported three more cases, bringing the total number of cases in the Lummi community during the pandemic to 99. As of Monday, the Lummi health department reported it had nine active cases, including one hospitalization. During the pandemic, four people have been hospitalized, but there have been no related deaths and the health center has conducted 2,578 tests.
The Lummi Indian Business Council moved the community back into Phase 1 of its Shelter in Place Order until at least Dec. 15.
“We must shelter in place,” a tribal health center Facebook post read. “This is why we must shelter in place — Case No. 99. If not for yourself, for your children, your parents, your mate, your loved ones. Just do it.”
Western Washington University’s most recent on-campus student COVID testing data shows that, since Sept. 15, WWU has tested 10,438 students, 25 of whom had positive tests. The number of positive tests stood at only five as recently as the first of the month.
Whatcom’s risk assessment
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard was updated Tuesday for data as of 11:59 p.m. Monday without information about hospitals. It showed that Whatcom County is missing the marks on the remaining two 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 131.4.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 testing rate per 100,000 people over a week of 324.4. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 289.7.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 3.0%.
Whatcom surge coming
Whatcom County is two to three weeks behind a COVID-19 surge in Skagit, Snohomish and King counties, Health Director Erika Lautenbach told the County Council on Tuesday
Lautenbach displayed a presentation during the online meeting that showed broad community spread of COVID-19 infections.
“We are continuing to see steep rises in cases,” Lautenbach said. “You can see the waves we had in spring and summer. This pales in magnitude.”
She said some county employees are being shifted to pandemic work in anticipation of a surge.
“We don’t have exponential staff to deal with exponential growth,” she said.
Meanwhile, Lautenbach said PeaceHealth, which operates St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham, is leading a coalition of Northwest hospitals to address the surge.
She pleaded with Whatcom County residents to take health officials’ advice and not have Thanksgiving gatherings outside their immediate household.
“There is some hope that some of the targeted closures and restrictions will help,” Lautenbach said.
— Robert Mittendorf
Numbers elsewhere
COVID-19 cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Tuesday evening:
▪ The U.S. has more than 12.55 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and 259,477 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 59.62 million reported cases and 1.40 million deaths.
Tuesday evening Washington state also reported these numbers from the Department of Health:
▪ 151,019 reported cases, an increase of 3,482 from data on Monday.
▪ 10,166 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 70 from data Monday.
▪ 2,690 deaths related to COVID-19, an increase of 35 reported Monday, meaning that 1.8% 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 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 24, 2020 at 4:51 PM.
CORRECTION: The total number of cases in Whatcom County was corrected Nov. 25, 2020.
