Whatcom records 171 new confirmed COVID-19 cases over three days, state reports Sunday
Whatcom County has 171 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 over three days, according to the Washington State Department of Health on Sunday, Jan. 3. New deaths are not announced on weekends.
No numbers were released on Friday, Jan. 1, due to the holiday and the state Department of Health did not update its COVID-19 dashboard as expected Saturday, Dec. 2, due to data processing challenges.
The state warned reported case counts may include up to 1,700 duplicates statewide.
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 3,640 confirmed cases and 55 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Saturday. That means that 1.5% 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 Sunday also showed Whatcom County has had 190 hospitalizations, an increase of seven since Thursday’s report.
The state reported that a total of 128,876 molecular tests have been administered in Whatcom County during the pandemic — an increase of 842 tests from Thursday’s report. The state continues to caution that negative test results from Nov. 21 to Nov. 30 are incomplete.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham, which is licensed and staffed for 241 beds, reported to The Bellingham Herald on Sunday it was treating 18 patients for COVID-19, the same as Friday after a decrease of one on Saturday.
There were 1,083 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Whatcom County in the month of December. It took 5.5 months from the start of the pandemic in Whatcom County on March 10 to Aug. 29 to reach 1,079 cases. It took just 2.5 months from Sept. 13 to Nov. 30 to reach 1,074 cases.
The Nooksack Indian Tribe announced in a Facebook post Thursday, Dec. 31, that it has seen one more confirmed cases within its community, bringing the pandemic total to 25. So far, the Nooksack health team has conducted 2,161 tests during the pandemic, with results for 14 pending.
Whatcom’s risk assessment
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard was last updated Thursday evening for data as of 11:59 p.m. Wednesday and is not updated on the weekend. It showed that Whatcom County was 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 190.0.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 molecular testing rate per 100,000 people over a week of 423.1. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 328.1. The state Department of Health has said that testing data from Nov. 21-30 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 3.2%. The state Department of Health has said that testing data Nov. 21-30 is incomplete and that is likely impacting this metric.
The latest Healthcare System Readiness risk assessment dashboard, updated Thursday evening for data through Wednesday, shows for the North region, which combines Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, San Juan and Island counties:
▪ Occupied beds: 1,078 of the region’s 1,107 adult hospital beds (97.4%) were occupied, missing the state’s goal of 80% or less.
▪ COVID occupied beds: 182 of the region’s 1,107 adult hospital beds (16.4%) were occupied by COVID patients, missing the state’s goal of 10% or less.
▪ Occupied ICU beds: 100 of the region’s 125 adult ICU beds (80.0%) were occupied. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was an increase of 10 from Wednesday’s report.
▪ COVID occupied ICU beds: 37 of the region’s 125 adult ICU beds (29.6%) were occupied by COVID patients. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was an increase of two from Wednesday’s report.
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Sunday afternoon:
▪ The U.S. has more than 20.61 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and 351,426 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 85.05 million reported cases and 1.84 million deaths.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Sunday afternoon, for the three days:
▪ 245,381 confirmed cases, an increase of 8,216 from reported cases on Thursday.
▪ 10,015 probable cases, an increase of 428 from Thursday’s data.
▪ 15,111 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 363 from data Thursday.
▪ 3,909,972 total molecular tests, an increase of 73,152 from Thursday’s data.
▪ 3,461 deaths related to COVID-19 were reported Thursday, the most recent data available. That reflected an increase of 41 deaths from data reported Wednesday 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
State rules that eliminated indoor service at restaurants and bars, closed indoor activity at gyms, and limited occupancy at retail stores to 25% were extended Dec. 30 from Jan. 4 to Jan. 11.
Gov. Jay 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 January 3, 2021 at 4:46 PM.
