Whatcom County leaders anticipating rollbacks to section 2 – KIRO 7 Information Seattle

WHATCOM COUNTY, Washington. – As many counties in Washington state see a plateau of new COVID-19 reports, cases and hospitalizations in Whatcom County are skyrocketing.

The county reports 227 new cases per 100,000 people. To stay in Phase 3 of Washington’s reopening plan, the cases must be below 200 per 100,000 people.

In addition, the number of hospital admissions is 6.7 admissions per 100,000 people, which is above the Phase 3 goal of being below five cases.

Given those numbers, district executives said it was increasingly likely that Whatcom will roll back to Phase 2.

News of possible rollbacks has been a huge disappointment for Bellingham companies like Thousand Acre Cider House.

“We’ve never had a summer shop that was open. So it’s incredibly frustrating to think that something can be stolen from us for a period of time,” said owner Jenny Hagemann.

As hard as she tries, Hagemann can never be entirely sure that she is actually preparing for success.

The Thousand Acre Cider House had only been around six months when the pandemic began, and Hagemann said it took the brunt of the COVID-19 restrictions.

At this point in time, I have no problem whatsoever with saying that this is the industry that is hardest hit, ”she told KIRO 7.

This time next week, Hagemann will find out if Whatcom County is rolling back to Phase 2.

Nothing has been finalized yet, but the district’s health authorities are not painting a positive picture.

“Unlike some other counties in our region, we have seen neither a flattening nor a decrease in cases. We continue to see high case rates, ”said Erika Lautenbach, Whatcom County’s Health Department.

A decrease in vaccinations does not help.

More and more vaccination appointments in Whatcom County are going vacant more than in most other places in Washington.

“Our general message to our community is that now is the right time for a vaccination,” said Lautenbach.

Until that happens, however, even fine weather won’t be enough to keep some of Whatcom County’s businesses alive.

“When I think about our goals, we couldn’t even scratch the service on the ideas we have,” remarked Hagemann.

KIRO 7 learned that Whatcom County’s intensive care unit (ICU) beds were also nearly full.

Health workers said it actually had little to do with COVID-19 and people ended up in intensive care for other reasons.

They added that the situation in the intensive care unit had improved overnight and there were now several beds available.