Whatcom sees 35 new confirmed COVID-19 cases in past two days, state says Monday
Whatcom County has 35 new confirmed COVID-19 cases the past two days, according to the Washington State Department of Health on Monday, Dec. 28, and no new deaths were reported over the weekend.
The two-day total — the state no longer updates the COVID-19 dashboard on Sundays — means that Whatcom County averaged 22.9 new COVID cases reported per day over the past seven days.
That marked the lowest weekly average the county has seen in more than a month since it averaged 21.3 cases per day reported between Nov. 16 and 22. Since then, Whatcom has seen its rolling seven-day average top out at 46.0 on Nov. 27 and surpass 40 cases per day nine times.
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 3,337 confirmed cases and 52 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Sunday. That means that 1.6% of the Whatcom residents who have tested positive for COVID during the pandemic have died.
Nine additional 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.
The state Department of Health data Monday also showed Whatcom County has had 178 hospitalizations, an increase of three since the report Saturday, Dec. 26.
The state reported that a total of 124,478 molecular tests have been administered in Whatcom County during the pandemic — an increase of 7,057 tests from Saturday’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 Monday that it was treating 17 patients for COVID-19 — unchanged from Saturday.
As of Monday morning, PeaceHealth spokesperson Bev Mayhew told The Bellingham Herald that just under 1,000 of its Whatcom County caregivers and providers had received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Slight weekly decrease
Whatcom County saw a slight decrease in the number of new cases last week — the fourth straight week the number of new cases has gone down.
The Washington State Department of Health reported 209 new cases in the county between Dec. 20 through Dec. 26, as Whatcom’s case total during the pandemic grew from 3,093 to 3,302. That’s a 2.3% decrease from the 214 cases the county saw between Dec. 13 and 19, which was down 15.1% from the 252 from Dec. 6-12. The county had its highest weekly total of 304 between Nov. 22 and 28.
Despite the recent weekly decreases, last week’s total marked the seventh straight week Whatcom has surpassed 100 cases in a week and the eighth week during the pandemic that the county’s case county has reached triple figures.
Though the state resumed reporting the number of tests conducted on Friday, Dec. 4, it cautioned in a note accompanying the data that testing data between Nov. 21 and now is not yet complete, so test positivity rates cannot accurately be estimated at this time.
Data did appear to be slowly catching up, though, as the state reported 17,773 tests last week in Whatcom County — more than it has reported in any previous week during the pandemic.
Long-term care update
The pace of new cases in Whatcom County’s long-term care facilities also appears to have slowed, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s latest COVID-19 Long-Term Care Report released last week.
According to data in the report, which was released Wednesday, Dec. 23, and reflected data through Monday, Dec. 21, Whatcom County long-term care facilities have had 260 confirmed cases during the pandemic. That marks an increase of 11 cases since the previous report, which included data through Nov. 30 — a 4.4% growth. The county’s long-term care facilities showed a 10% growth in cases during the second half of November.
The number of COVID-related deaths in long-term care facilities also decreased by two to 38, according to the state’s data, which is often adjusted.
The 260 cases mean that long-term care facilities had 8.2% of the 3,177 overall cases reported in Whatcom County on Dec. 21 — down from 10.4% on Nov. 30 — while the 38 related deaths represent 73.1% of the county’s death total (52) during the pandemic.
Statewide, long-term care facilities have been associated with 12,501 cases (6% of the state’s total cases) and 1,627 related deaths (52% of the state’s death total), the report showed. Since Nov. 30, the state’s long-term care facilities saw increases of 24.5% in the number of cases (2,465 cases) and 10.9% in the number of deaths (160 deaths).
Whatcom’s risk assessment
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard late Monday for data as of 11:59 p.m. Sunday 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 193.5.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 molecular testing rate per 100,000 people over a week of 377. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 323.9. 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 3.4%. 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, updated late Monday for data through Sunday, shows for the North region, which combines Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, San Juan and Island counties:
▪ Occupied beds: 944 of the region’s 1,214 adult hospital beds (77.8%) were occupied, making the state’s goal of 80% or less.
▪ COVID occupied beds: 151 of the region’s 1,214 adult hospital beds (12.4%) were occupied by COVID patients, missing the state’s goal of 10% or less.
▪ Occupied ICU beds: 72 of the region’s 140 adult ICU beds (51.4%) were occupied. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was a decrease of six from Thursday’s report.
▪ COVID occupied ICU beds: 31 of the region’s 140 adult ICU beds (22.1%) were occupied by COVID patients. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was an increase of two from Thursday’s report.
Numbers elsewhere
COVID-19 cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Monday afternoon:
▪ The U.S. has more than 19.2 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and 334,000 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 81.2 million reported cases and 1.7 million deaths.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Monday afternoon:
▪ 229,672 confirmed cases, an increase of 1,877 from reported cases on Saturday.
▪ 9,000 probable cases, an increase of 76 from Saturday’s data.
▪ 14,276 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 180 from data Saturday.
▪ 3,768,662 total molecular tests, an increase of 57,883 from Saturday’s data.
▪ 3,195 deaths related to COVID-19, an increase of 11 deaths from data reported Friday, meaning that 1.3% 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.
This story was originally published December 28, 2020 at 5:04 PM.
