County Covid-19 cases still going up

The Whatcom County Health Department reported 86 confirmed cases and four deaths from the new coronavirus at its noon update on March 26. That’s an increase in 20 confirmed cases and two deaths from the previous day’s numbers.

The deceased individuals were both in their 90s; one was a resident at Shuksan Healthcare Center in Bellingham and the other was previously a resident of Summit Place Assisted Living, also in Bellingham, but died in the hospital.

The United States is on track to become the global epicenter of the new coronavirus, with 68,440 total confirmed cases as of March 26, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The U.S. added nearly 15,000 cases from the previous day and some analysts expect the U.S. to surpass China and Italy in total confirmed cases within 24 hours. China and Italy had 81,782 and 74,386, respectively, as of March 26, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Globally, Johns Hopkins reported 495,086 confirmed cases and 22,295 deaths.

The Washington State Department of Health reported 2,580 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 132 deaths as of March 25. Though the Puget Sound region was an early national epicenter, New York had more than 37,000 confirmed cases on March 26.

As of 3 p.m. on March 5, B.C. had 659 confirmed cases and 14 had died, according to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control. The Canadian government reported 3,555 confirmed cases and 35 deaths as of March 26.