Whatcom sees record-high 48 new COVID cases Sunday, state reports

Whatcom County had a record number of new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, Nov. 15, with 48 additional cases reported by the Washington State Department of Health data. The state does not report deaths on the weekend.

Whatcom County now has seen 1,890 confirmed cases and 52 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14. That means that 2.8% of the Whatcom residents who have tested positive for COVID during the pandemic have died.

The state Department of Health data Sunday shows Whatcom County has had 119 hospitalizations (an increase of one from Saturday) and 90,593 tests have been performed (an increase of 674 from what was reported Saturday).

This is the fourth consecutive day with at least 20 new cases reported and the second day in the last week with an increase of 40 cases, eclipsing the previous record of 46 cases on Friday, Nov. 13.

Whatcom County’s increases come on a day the state saw 2,309 new cases, a record increase from Saturday’s 2,223 case increase. Overall, the state now has 130,040 cases during the pandemic.

With Washington seeing consistent increasing daily case counts, Gov. Inslee announced new rules Sunday that will go into effect statewide this week that will 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.

The restrictions are scheduled to last four weeks, until Dec. 14.

St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham, which is licensed and staffed for 241 beds, reported to The Bellingham Herald on Sunday that it was treating four patients for COVID-19, which is no change from Saturday.

Western Washington University’s most recent on-campus student COVID testing data shows that, since Sept. 15, WWU has tested 8,236 students, 10 of whom had positive tests. That’s an increase of two cases reported Sunday.

The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard is not updated on the weekend, but it reported Friday for data as of 11:59 p.m. Thursday that Whatcom County is making two of four 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 50.6.

▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 testing rate per 100,000 people over a week of 267.6. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 251.6.

▪ Whatcom is making the target of less than 2% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 during the past week with a rate of 1.7%.

▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 80% of all licensed hospital beds occupied by patients with 92.5% reported by the state.

▪ Whatcom is making the target of less than 10% of all licensed hospital beds being occupied by COVID-19 patients with 2.0% reported by the state.

Numbers elsewhere

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

▪ The U.S. has more than 11 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and 246,073 deaths.

▪ Worldwide, there are more than 54.2 million reported cases and 1.3 million deaths.

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

▪ 9,425 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 159 from data Saturday.

▪ 2,778,095 total tests, an increase of 29,313 from data Saturday.

▪ 2,519 deaths related to COVID-19, 12 more than were reported Thursday, meaning that 2.0% of the state residents who have tested positive for COVID during the pandemic have died. The state does not update death numbers on the weekend.

Washington state actions

Inslee issued a travel advisory for Washington state on Friday, 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 Tuesday, 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 November 15, 2020 at 3:16 PM.