Whatcom sees 24 confirmed COVID-19 cases on Saturday

Whatcom County has 24 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and nine probable cases, according to the Washington State Department of Health Saturday, Dec. 19. Deaths are not reported on the weekends.

Whatcom County now has seen 3,093 confirmed cases, and 52 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Friday, Dec. 18. That means that 1.7% of the Whatcom residents who have tested positive for COVID during the pandemic have died.

Nine probable cases have been reported in Whatcom County during the pandemic resulting from positive antigen tests, but those cases were not confirmed by a molecular test.

On Wednesday, Dec. 16, the state added probable cases reported since June 2020 to all case, hospitalization, and death counts. “Probable cases are those where individuals had a positive antigen test result for COVID-19, but no positive molecular test result,” according to the state Health Department website.

The state Department of Health data Friday also showed Whatcom County has had 168 hospitalizations, an increase of one from Friday’s report.

The state also reported that a total of 99,648 molecular tests have been administered in Whatcom County during the pandemic — an increase of 172 tests from Friday’s report. The state continues to caution that “test data from Nov. 21 through today are incomplete and should be interpreted with caution.”

The state will no longer update the COVID-19 dashboard on Sundays. Monday updates will include case and hospitalization counts that would have been released on Sundays.

St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham, which is licensed and staffed for 241 beds, reported to The Bellingham Herald on Saturday that it was treating 10 patients for COVID-19 — an increase of two from Friday.

The Nooksack Indian Tribe announced in a Facebook post Friday that it has seen 17 confirmed cases within its community. Two more people are presumed to be positive for COVID-19 but are awaiting test results. So far, the Nooksack health team has conducted 2,119 tests during the pandemic, with results for 46 pending.

Whatcom’s risk assessment

The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard was last updated Friday for data as of 11:59 p.m. Thursday. It showed that Whatcom County is missing the marks on 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 219.7.

▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 molecular testing rate per 100,000 people over a week of 42.0. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 295.8. The state Department of Health has said that testing data since Nov. 21 is incomplete and that is likely impacting this metric.

▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2.0% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 38.9%. The state Department of Health has said that testing data since Nov. 21 is incomplete and that is likely impacting this metric.

The latest Healthcare System Readiness risk assessment dashboard, which was last updated Friday for data through Thursday, shows for the North region, which combines Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, San Juan and Island counties:

▪ Occupied beds: 1,061 of the region’s 1,237 adult hospital beds (85.8%) were occupied, missing the state’s goal of 80% or less.

▪ COVID occupied beds: 133 of the region’s 1,237 adult hospital beds (10.8%) were occupied by COVID patients, missing the state’s goal of 10% or less.

▪ Occupied ICU beds: 87 of the region’s 140 adult ICU beds (62.1%) were occupied. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was a decrease of five from Thursday’s report.

▪ COVID occupied ICU beds: 34 of the region’s 140 adult ICU beds (26.4%) were occupied by COVID patients. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was an increase of three from Thursday’s report.

Numbers elsewhere

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

▪ The U.S. has more than 17.9 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and 315,630 deaths.

▪ Worldwide, there are more than 76.12 million reported cases and 1.68 million deaths.

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

▪ 214,466 confirmed cases, an increase of 2,183 from reported cases on Friday.

▪ 8,134 probable cases, an increase of 149 from Friday’s data.

▪ 13,391 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 100 from data Friday.

▪ 3,503,577 total molecular tests, an increase of 24,949 from Friday’s data.

▪ 3,104 deaths related to COVID-19 reported on Friday, meaning that 1.4% of the state residents who have tested positive for COVID during the pandemic have died. New deaths are not reported on the weekends.

Washington state actions

Gov. Inslee announced rules 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.

Those restrictions were originally scheduled to last until Dec. 14, but on Dec. 8, Inslee announced they have been extended another three weeks to Jan. 4.

Inslee issued a travel advisory for Washington state on 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 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.