BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Whatcom County saw a record week of new first time positive coronavirus tests, notching 518, compared to 260 for the prior 7 day period.
WWU saw 4 positives on 1904 tests for students’ first week back on campus.
North Region ICU bed availability reporting shows roughly 19% of spots available, while about 14% of *all* adult acute care beds are open for the region of Whatcom, Skagit, San Juan and Island counties.
The Washington State Department of Health announced on Friday that all eight regions in the state’s new COVID-19 recovery plan will remain in the first phase until at least Jan. 18.
Gov. Jay Inslee’s new regional economic reopening announced last week focuses efforts on reopening regions rather than individual counties.
Washington’s Secretary of Health Dr. Umair A. Shah said in a statement that he knows people in Washington want to move forward as quickly as possible with respect to COVID-19 but the metrics show that the state is just not ready to do so now.