Whatcom sees 36 new confirmed COVID-19 cases for two days, state says Saturday

Whatcom County has 36 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and continues to have nine probable cases, according to the Washington State Department of Health on Saturday, Dec. 26. Deaths are not reported on the weekends.

The state did not release any COVID-19 statistics on Friday, Dec. 25.

By Saturday, Whatcom County had seen 3,302 confirmed cases, and 52 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Friday. That means that 1.6% 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 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 Saturday showed Whatcom County has had 175 hospitalizations, an increase of one since the report Thursday, Dec. 24.

The state reported that a total of 117,421 molecular tests have been administered in Whatcom County during the pandemic — an increase of 6,145 tests from Thursday’s report. The state continues to caution that “test data from Nov. 21 through today are incomplete and should be interpreted with caution.”

St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham, which is licensed and staffed for 241 beds, reported to The Bellingham Herald on Saturday that it was treating 17 patients for COVID-19 — an increase of one from Friday.

Numbers elsewhere

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

▪ The U.S. has more than 18.91 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and 331,689 deaths.

▪ Worldwide, there are more than 80.22 million reported cases and 1.75 million deaths.

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

▪ 227,795 confirmed cases, an increase of 3,456 from reported cases on Thursday.

▪ 8,924 probable cases, an increase of 230 from Thursday’s data.

▪ 14,096 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 188 from data Thursday.

▪ 3,710,779 total molecular tests, an increase of 61,569 from Thursday’s data.

▪ 3,184 deaths related to COVID-19, meaning that 1.4% of the state residents who have tested positive for COVID during the pandemic have died. Deaths are not updated 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.