Whatcom County sees 73 more COVID-19 cases, state reports Friday
Whatcom County has 73 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to the Washington State Department of Health on Friday, Jan. 15. No new deaths were reported.
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 4,653 confirmed cases — 599 in the last seven days — and 56 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 14. That means that 1.4% of the Whatcom residents who have tested positive for COVID during the pandemic have died.
Fourteen additional probable cases — no change from Thursday’s report — 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 Thursday showed Whatcom County has had 231 hospitalizations during the pandemic, an increase of 10 from Thursday’s report, though the state said hospitalization data is unusually high due to a backlog from Jan. 13-14.
The state also reported that a total of 135,840 molecular tests have been administered in Whatcom County during the pandemic — an increase of 805 tests from Thursday’s report.
The state cautioned that case counts Friday may include up to 280 duplicates statewide and that negative test results Nov. 21-30 and from Dec. 30 still are incomplete.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham, which is licensed and staffed for 241 beds, reported to The Bellingham Herald on Friday it was treating 18 patients for COVID-19, four fewer than Thursday and 12 less than the record-high 30 it reported Wednesday. St. Joseph began banning visitors at the medical center until further notice, starting at 5 a.m. Monday, Jan. 11, while COVID-19 remains a public health threat, according to a Friday, Jan. 8, Facebook post.
The Nooksack Indian Tribe announced in a Facebook post Friday that it has seen one more confirmed case within its community, bringing the pandemic total to 39. Seven cases are active, while 31 have recovered, according to the post. So far, the Nooksack health team has conducted 2,569 tests during the pandemic, with results for 21 pending. Nooksack instituted a Shelter in Place Order on Wednesday, Jan. 6, mandating that all residents stay in their homes except for essential reasons and restricted them from gatherings with people outside their households until further notice.
Whatcom’s risk assessment
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard was last updated Friday evening for data as of 11:59 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 14. With a shift to “Healthy Washington” goals to resume business activities, the state was more specific on reporting dates for some metrics. The dashboard does not update on the weekends.
Whatcom County was missing the marks on two key metrics:
▪ Whatcom is missing the target rate of fewer than 25 new cases per 100,000 residents Dec. 23-Jan. 5 with a rate of 272.5.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 molecular testing rate per 100,000 people Dec. 29-Jan. 4 of 103.5. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 174.3.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2.0% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 Dec. 29-Jan. 4 with a rate of 26.8%.
The latest Healthcare System Readiness risk assessment dashboard, updated Friday evening for data through Thursday, shows for the North region, which combines Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, San Juan and Island counties:
▪ Occupied beds: 1,090 of the region’s 1,242 adult hospital beds (87.8%) were occupied, missing the state’s goal of 80% or less.
▪ COVID occupied beds: 156 of the region’s 1,242 adult hospital beds (12.6%) were occupied by COVID patients, missing the state’s goal of 10% or less.
▪ Occupied ICU beds: 104 of the region’s 135 adult ICU beds (77%) were occupied. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was an increase of 10 beds being used from data Thursday.
▪ COVID occupied ICU beds: 30 of the region’s 135 adult ICU beds (22.2%) were occupied by COVID patients. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was an increase of three beds being used from data Thursday.
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Friday evening:
▪ The U.S. has more than 23.5 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and more than 391,624 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 93.7 million reported cases and 2 million deaths.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Friday evening:
▪ 273,703 confirmed cases, an increase of 2,060 from reported cases on Thursday.
▪ 12,267 probable cases, an increase of 133 from Thursday’s data.
▪ 16,370 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 296 from data Thursday, though the state said hospitalization data is unusually high due to a backlog from Jan. 13-14.
▪ 4,179,833 total molecular tests, an increase of 26,619 from Thursday’s data.
▪ 3,903 deaths related to COVID-19, which was an increase of 27 from Thursday’s data, meaning that 1.4% of the state residents who have tested positive for COVID during the pandemic have died.
Washington state actions
In the “Healthy Washington” plan introduced by Gov. Jay Inslee Jan. 5, business resumption is tied to targets by health system regions. Whatcom is tied to Skagit, San Juan and Island counties in the plan.
The state will run analyses each Friday to determine whether regions will move backward or forward in phases the following Monday, officials said.
All regions began in Phase 1 on Jan. 11 and continue into a second week in Phase 1. It allows live entertainment with ticketed groups of up to 10 people and very limited fitness activities such as appointment-based training in gyms.
This story was originally published January 16, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
