State reports 8 new COVID-19 cases in Whatcom; Rep. DelBene offers help to Point Roberts
Whatcom County saw 8 new COVID-19 cases reported by the Washington State Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard Friday, June 11. No new deaths were reported.
Overall, the state reports Whatcom County has seen 9,296 confirmed cases, 462 hospitalizations — down two — and 99 related deaths during the pandemic. An additional 402 probable cases — down one — have been reported in Whatcom County during the pandemic, resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
The state reports that 1.0% of Whatcom’s 9,698 total cases (confirmed and probable cases combined) have resulted in death — better than the statewide 1.3% average.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 19 patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, June 11, down five.
All patients who test positive for COVID are admitted to the COVID unit, and approximately 95% of those patients are admitted for COVID-related illness, spokesperson Bev Mayhew told The Bellingham Herald.
Whatcom County’s daily average of reported cases decreased to 20.9 and was down from the 24.4 average from one week earlier.
The county’s infection rate was 164.9 cases per 100,000 residents, based on the most recent complete data between May 21 and June 3, according to the state’s Risk Assessment dashboard. The county also averaged 7.1 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents between March 25 and 31, according to analysis by The Bellingham Herald of the latest complete hospitalization data on the state’s epidemiological curves
The state’s vaccination report on Friday showed Whatcom County has administered 211,438 vaccine doses and estimated that nearly two-thirds (66.81%) of the county’s residents 16 and older have initiated vaccination, while 58.98% have completed it.
On May 18 all counties throughout the state returned to Phase 3 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s Healthy Washington — Roadmap to Recovery plan. Additionally, Inslee announced May 13 that the state will fully reopen by June 30 — earlier if 70% of all residents 16 and older initiate vaccination.
If the 70% goal isn’t met, the state will still reopen, the governor said on Thursday, June 3.
Help for Point Roberts
U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene has introduced a bill to specifically help small businesses in Point Roberts.
The Point Roberts Small Business Fairness Act would provide forgivable loans up to 75% of the fiscal year 2019 revenue to small businesses in Point Roberts. The loans would come from the U.S. Small Business Administration.
During the pandemic Point Roberts has been cut off from the rest of the U.S. because of border restrictions that have been in place since March 2020.
“This bill will support small businesses in exclaves like Point Roberts that are heavily reliant on tourism that has been almost totally wiped out for over a year now,” said DelBene in a news release. “We need targeted solutions to help isolated communities like Point Roberts recover from the pandemic or they won’t be recognizable in a few years.”
— Dave Gallagher, dgallagher@bhamherald.com
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Friday night:
▪ The U.S. has more than 33.43 million reported cases, more than 599,175 deaths — both most of any nation — and 306.3 million vaccine doses administered.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 175.1 million reported cases, 3.78 million deaths and 2.28 billion vaccine doses administered.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Friday evening:
▪ 407,942 confirmed cases, up 539 from the last report.
▪ 35,512 probable cases, up 100 from the last report.
▪ 24,762 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, up 32 from the last report.
▪ 7,338,597 total molecular tests, up 13,772 from the last report.
▪ 5,815 deaths related to COVID-19, up 12 from the last report.
This story was originally published June 12, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
