Whatcom sees 47 COVID-19 cases Wednesday, as state releases new healthcare assessment
Whatcom County saw 47 more residents test positive for COVID-19, the Washington State Department of Health reported on Wednesday, Nov. 25. No new deaths were reported.
Whatcom County now has seen 2,255 confirmed cases and 53 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 24. 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 Wednesday also shows Whatcom County has had 136 hospitalizations (an increase of seven from Tuesday’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.
The state has announced it will not release new data on Thursday, Nov. 26, as it recognizes Thanksgiving.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham, which is licensed and staffed for 241 beds, reported to The Bellingham Herald on Wednesday that it was treating 14 patients for COVID-19, a decrease of three from Tuesday’s total and four less than Monday’s record high.
Jail testing for COVID
The Whatcom County Jail is awaiting results of a COVID-19 test on a prisoner, according to a Wednesday email from Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Deb Slater. It’s the first potential case at the jail, she confirmed.
A prisoner alerted deputies during the pre-booking process at the Whatcom County Jail Tuesday that they had tested positive for COVID-19.
“Following the strict protocols in place, this offender was immediately tested and put into medical isolation. Both tests administered came back negative. This morning, Nov. 25th, another test was administered out of an abundance of caution. The result of that test has not been received. All staff working with this offender are required to wear appropriate PPE and the offender continues to be housed in medical isolation,” Slater wrote.
The jail has stockpiled personal protective equipment since January and daily cleanings have been increased, Slater said, adding that booking restrictions were activated to make social distancing possible.
More Lummi cases
The Lummi Tribal Health Center late Tuesday reported two more cases, and on Wednesday it reported seven more, bringing the total number of cases in the Lummi community during the pandemic to 108. The Lummi community now has 30 cases so far in November and 44 since Oct. 1.
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.
“There is no time better than the present to show your strength, to show your love and to protect your families and your community,” a Lummi Communications Facebook post read. “We must do this now. Save lives. Be safe. Commit to protecting your loved ones.”
Western Washington University’s most recent on-campus student COVID testing data shows that, since Sept. 15, WWU has tested 11,503 students, 26 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 Wednesday for data as of 11:59 p.m. Tuesday 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 137.2.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 testing rate per 100,000 people over a week of 324.5. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 289.9.
▪ 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%.
Healthcare System Readiness
As the number of COVID cases in the state grows, hospital occupancy also is rapidly increasing.
The number of confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients in hospitals across the state doubled from 471 on Nov. 1 to 932 on Nov. 23, according to a state Department of Health news release, while the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units across the state increased 75% from 124 on Nov. 1 to 214 on Nov. 23.
If this rate of growth continues, the state could have more than 1,800 COVID patients by mid-December, according to the release, and that will take its toll on hospital occupancy rates, as COVID patients usually stay in hospitals for several weeks.
“This situation is extraordinarily urgent, and we need everyone in Washington state to take action now to stop the spread of COVID-19 before our hospitals and front-line healthcare workers are overwhelmed,” State Health Officer Dr. Kathy Lofy said in the release. “I am extremely concerned about the current exponential growth of COVID-19 cases. We must all re-commit to flatten the curve now.”
The state Department of Health has updated its Risk Assessment Dashboard to track the strain on hospitals, releasing the number and percent of adult staffed hospital beds occupied by any patients, the number and percent of staffed beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, the number and percent of adult ICU beds occupied by any patients, and the number and percent of adult ICU staffed beds occupied by COVID-19 patients.
Data from these four categories is broken down regionally, rather than by county, as hospitals in the same region are likely to share patient beds. Whatcom County is in the North region, along with Skagit, Snohomish, San Juan and Island counties, the state Department of Health told The Bellingham Herald in an email.
“Accurate and relevant data is critical to allow all of us to work together to ensure no individual hospital or region is overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases” Darcy Jaffe, senior vice president of safety and quality for the Washington State Hospital Association, said in the release.
Here is what the Healthcare System Readiness risk assessment, which was last updated through Monday, Nov. 23, shows for the North region:
▪ Occupied beds: 1,067 of the region’s 1,380 adult hospital beds (77.3%) were occupied. Between Nov. 17 and 23, there was an average of 5.4 hospitalizations per 100,000 residents in the region.
▪ COVID occupied beds: 123 of the region’s 1,307 adult hospital beds (9.4%) were occupied by COVID patients, meeting the state’s goal of 10% or less. That is an increase of 48 since Nov. 17.
▪ Occupied ICU beds: 99 of the region’s 138 adult ICU beds (71.7%) were occupied. That is unchanged from Nov. 17.
▪ COVID occupied ICU beds: 36 of the region’s 138 adult ICU beds (26.1%) were occupied by COVID patients. That is an increase of nine since Nov. 17.
Race and ethnicity data
The percentage of Whatcom County COVID-19 cases impacting people identifying as Hispanic dropped for the seventh straight week, according to the latest data released by the Whatcom County Health Department, but those identifying as multi-racial saw a rather large increase in the county’s percentage of cases.
The county health department released new data on COVID’s impact on different races and ethnicities in the county on Wednesday.
Here is what the latest data, which is through Nov. 24, shows:
▪ White, non-Hispanic: 58.7% of cases, up from 58.6% on Nov. 17 (represents 78.7% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Hispanic: 27.2% of cases, down from 27.8% on Nov. 17 (represents 9.5% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ American Indian/Alaska Native, non-Hispanic: 5.1% of cases, down from 5.3% on Nov. 17 (represents 2.5% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Multiracial, non-Hispanic: 3.0% of cases, up from 2.6% on Nov. 17 (represents 3.6% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Asian, non-Hispanic: 2.4% of cases, up from 2.2% on Nov. 17 (represents 4.3% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Other race, non-Hispanic: 1.8% of cases, down from 1.9% on Nov. 17 (represents 0.0% of Whatcom’s total population).
▪ Black, non-Hispanic: 1.2% of cases, up from 1.1% on Nov. 17 (represents 1.0% of Whatcom’s total population.
▪ Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic: 0.6% of cases (represents 0.3% of Whatcom’s total population). This is the first time the category has not been suppressed due to a low number of cases.
Approximately 20% of all cases do not have a known race or ethnicity.
Numbers elsewhere
COVID-19 cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Wednesday afternoon:
▪ The U.S. has more than 12.75 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and 262,080 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 60.25 million reported cases and 1.41 million deaths.
Wednesday afternoon Washington state also reported these numbers from the Department of Health:
▪ 153,906 reported cases, an increase of 2,887 from data on Tuesday.
▪ 10,242 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 76 from data Tuesday.
▪ 2,704 deaths related to COVID-19, an increase of 14 reported Tuesday, 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 25, 2020 at 4:46 PM.
