Over the past week, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Whatcom County grew from 175 on April 2 to 243 on April 9, according to the Whatcom County Health Department. Twenty-one in the county have now died from the respiratory illness; 12 of those deaths were reported in the past week.
As of April 8, there were 9,097 confirmed cases in Washington state and 421 deaths from the virus, according to the state department of health. Washington was an early epicenter in the U.S. coronavirus outbreak, but now about 10 states have more confirmed cases than Washington. As of April 9, there were more than 451,000 cases in the United States and 1.5 million around the planet, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
Recent numbers indicate that new transmissions of the illness may be slowing in Washington, and on April 6 the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) released a new, lower prediction of the total number of COVID-19-related deaths. The new analysis said the state can expect about 632 deaths, down from an earlier UW estimate of 1,400. That outlook depends on maintaining strict social distancing measures through the end of May, IHME’s director told the Seattle Times.
It’s not clear whether new cases are slowing yet in Whatcom County. The county saw its biggest one-day increase in new confirmed cases on April 5, when it reported 47 new cases. The county announced its first confirmed case nearly one month ago, on March 10.
New cases at Stafholt in Blaine
Good Samaritan Society – Stafholt in Blaine reported five new confirmed cases of the new coronavirus associated with the facility. In total, 12 residents, five staff and two contracted medical workers have tested positive, said Shawn Neisteadt, spokesperson for the North Dakota-based nonprofit. One employee who tested positive has recovered, and another’s positive results turned out to be false, he said.
Stafholt first reported that it had confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the last days of March. On March 31, 11 residents and two medical workers at the facility had tested positive, said Shawn Neisteadt, spokesperson for the South Dakota-based Good Samaritan Society, in an email.
Stafholt has notified all residents and families and is working with the Washington State Department of Health and following its guidance on isolating residents, Neisteadt said.
High rate of positive tests
As of April 7, 15.2 percent of tests in Whatcom County had come back positive, according to data from the Washington State Department of Health. That’s almost double the state’s positive test rate of 8.7 percent.
The Whatcom County Health Department data on April 9 showed that 22.8 percent of tests had come back positive. State and county numbers are different due to differences in how cases are tracked and the time at which numbers are updated. Whatcom County may have had a delay in obtaining negative test results, as it had not posted new negative test results since April 4. A spokesperson for Whatcom Unified Command, the multi-government organization responding to the Whatcom outbreak, did not respond to a question about the lack of negative test results by press time.
On April 2, Whatcom Unified Command spokesperson Claudia Murphy said the county’s high rate of positive tests may be a result of limited testing.
“While it’s true that anyone can be tested for COVID-19 if their health care provider says they should, the reality right now is that not everyone can be tested because of a shortage of test kits and/or a shortage of PPE,” Murphy said in an email, which she said was reviewed by health department “subject matter experts.”
Murphy continued: “The percentage of positive tests out of the total number of people tested for Whatcom County is likely skewed because right now we are prioritizing testing for the people who are most at risk for severe illness, and for health care workers, first responders, and other essential workers. We’ve also tested in closed settings, like Shuksan Healthcare Center, where we were concerned about spread and expected to see a lot of positive tests.”
County testing capacity expands with drive-through site
Whatcom County began operating a drive-through COVID-19 testing site for high priority individuals on April 3. The site is a partnership between the Whatcom County Health Department and Northwest Laboratory, a Bellingham lab that began processing tests in late March.
Testing at the drive-through is only available for high priority populations with a referral from a health care provider. Patients can’t request testing themselves. High priority populations, according to a county health department press release, include those with symptoms who:
- Work in healthcare or public safety;
- Live or work in an institutional or congregate living setting;
- Are employed in essential services, such as grocery stores, pharmacies or public utilities; or
- Are over 60, pregnant or have underlying health conditions.
“By creating these opportunities for priority population testing, the health department aims to free up capacity at other medical provider or clinical agency testing locations for the public,” said Cindy Hollinsworth, health department communicable disease and epidemiology manager.
The county health department said on April 3 that it expects results from the site to be provided within 24 hours of shipment to the lab. A county spokesperson did not respond to a question about whether that was happening by press time.
The county is still working to increase testing, the press release said.
Whatcom County limiting information
On April 3, Whatcom Unified Command began releasing some extra information in a daily “situation report” at whatcomcovid.com. It includes information about the age of confirmed cases.
An earlier situation report, obtained by the Bellingham Herald before Whatcom Unified Command began releasing its daily situation report to the public, included information about the number of hospitalized patients. At that time, on March 31, there were 11 confirmed cases among patients at PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center and 22 suspected cases, according to the document.
A spokesperson said unified command only releases information about medical facilities if there is a “cluster” or spread within a facility. Skagit County releases a number of people hospitalized from the new coronavirus in its daily update on new confirmed cases.
PeaceHealth St. Joseph communications director Beverly Mayhew said that on April 7 there were five confirmed cases at the hospital and 18 waiting for test results. She said the facility has had one health care worker test positive to date, and that the facility is below capacity in its emergency department, ICU and main nursing units.
Jed Holmes, community outreach facilitator for the county executive, suggested that releasing information about the location of confirmed cases might give people a false sense of security. A reporter for The Northern Light argued that releasing information on confirmed cases in smaller communities like Birch Bay or Point Roberts could cause people to take the virus’ spread more seriously and promote county and state social distancing guidelines.
Holmes said that while that perspective is understandable, the consensus among public health experts is that this new coronavirus could be in every community and given the shortage of testing in the county, releasing location information is more likely to give a false sense of security than a true picture of the virus’ spread.
“We want people to go in with the assumption that wherever you go, the threat is there,” he said.
Stay-at-home order extended
Washington governor Jay Inslee extended the state’s stay-at-home order until May 4. Inslee made the announcement in a televised update on the state’s response on April 2.
The governor did not add any additional restrictions to the stay-at-home order, which he originally signed on March 23. The order directs all state residents to stay home except for grocery shopping, medical appointments and other essential outings. It also closes all businesses not on a long list deemed essential by the state and businesses that can continue remotely.
“The hard truth is that since I announced our Stay Home, Stay Healthy initiative just over a week ago, the number of deaths that we have suffered and the number of confirmed cases has roughly doubled,” Inslee said. “And May 4 is absolutely the soonest we possibly could achieve our ends to keep our loved ones safe.”
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