You can count on us to continue to provide exclusive COVID-19 coverage in Whatcom County
While COVID-19 has every day seeming like the last, so much has happened in the six months since the first case of what we were then calling the new coronavirus surfaced in Whatcom County on March 10.
Dave Rasbach’s chart shows how the county has worked to contain the respiratory virus. Deaths slowed dramatically after the first rash at senior facilities. As testing ramped up, so did known cases. But in the last months, those numbers are coming down.
Good job to everybody who wears a mask to keep others safe. Thank you.
We at The Herald continue to follow safety practices and currently don’t expect to return to our office until after the new year. Other than a skeleton crew left with the police scanners, our reporters are working from home. When summer intern Martín Bilbao came to Bellingham in June, I never expected that he would spend so little time getting to know his first professional colleagues.
But we’ve had some excellent news, too, during these tough times. McClatchy, our owner, exited bankruptcy this month with veteran media executive Tony Hunter as CEO. He celebrates community journalism and promises to continue to accelerate our digital growth.
And, as COVID-19 and the movement for social justice have fueled the community’s interest in news, The Herald has seen a 25% increase in digital subscriptions in the last six months.
We so appreciate our subscribers’ support. It takes time, effort and expertise to dig in and find stories you can only get from local newsrooms such as ours.
We do rely on your tips about outbreaks. The Whatcom County Health Department is holding tight to information about outbreaks, particularly at businesses. And they’ve hinted they don’t plan to tell us about school outbreaks either. I don’t think any of us should be happy about that.
When we get tips, we always check them out. Often businesses see the value in discussing how they’re dealing with an illness, even when the health department won’t share information. If you do send us an email tip at newsroom@bellinghamherald.com or use the form online, please tell us how we can reach you for follow-up, or even to tell you what we found. Sometimes we need more information to track something down. We won’t print your name if you’re just tipping us to something to check further.
We’re always honored when people contact us and allow us to tell their stories. Amid all the numbers, there are touching family stories such as “ ‘I love you’ and then, hands on heart, a daughter’s goodbye to mom amid COVID-19” and “A look at one resident’s life in the center of an outbreak in Bellingham nursing home” by Kie Relyea.
Kie recalls writing our first coronavirus story back on Jan. 29: “Whatcom County tests its first patient for the coronavirus.” “That seems like forever ago. And I think that was when we first realized people were concerned and very interested in the topic,” she said.
Dave Gallagher has tracked business and restaurant closings and reopenings and those that got government assistance, “Paycheck Protection Program spent $320 million in Whatcom County. Here’s where it went.” He’s following the impact on jobs, “Losing their jobs in Whatcom to coronavirus was tough, getting benefits was tougher” and will continue to track all of it.
David Rasbach has anchored our coverage, keeping track of the numbers day by day. This week he recalled it all in “Whatcom County has dealt with COVID-19 for six months. Here’s a look at the milestones.” He’s also kept watch on the border, where “Canadians seeking to keep U.S. border closed to non-essential travel another month” is our most-read story of the year with more than 120,000 page views.
Robert Mittendorf has tracked Whatcom Unified Command, the multi-governmental agency that’s directing local pandemic response, and how much this is costing taxpayers. He’s also tracked down experts to get information about computer models of the disease early on, when the joint command was holding tight to information. In April he wrote “Without social distancing, report says Whatcom could have up to 4,200 coronavirus deaths.” We’re all glad that has not come to pass.
Denver Pratt continues to mine public data, sometimes data tightly held by agencies, and look at the numbers to find sometimes disturbing exclusive news. Her stories include “Shuksan care center faced debt, improper care violations before coronavirus, records show,” “Nearly 75% of Whatcom’s coronavirus-related deaths are from nursing homes, data shows” and “Healthcare workers make up majority of COVID-19 workers’ comp claims in Whatcom, Skagit.”
The world is tired of COVID-19. But six months in, we are still at the beginning of this story. With your continued support, we pledge to be there all the way for Whatcom County.
If you’re not a subscriber, you can support our local reporting by becoming one at bellinghamherald.com/subscribe. If you’re already a subscriber, please suggest to friends and neighbors that they join you and subscribe.
One final note: If you have kids, be sure to check out our new weekly Kids Current section in the eEdition. It’s 20 pages of news, educational activities and puzzles geared for students in kindergarten to 8th grade.
