County lags state in virus testing

Some businesses to receive grants as COVID restrictions slowly begin to ease

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As of April 28, the Whatcom County Health Department is reporting 293 confirmed cases of COVID-19 to date in Whatcom County and 28 deaths. That’s 13 new cases and one new death from the respiratory virus since the previous Tuesday, April 21.

In total, 2,626 people in Whatcom County have been tested for the coronavirus, making the rate of positive tests in Whatcom County 11.2 percent. That’s higher than the statewide positive rate of 7.6 percent, according to the Washington State Department of Health.

Whatcom County has a higher rate of positive tests despite testing a smaller percentage of citizens than the state as a whole. In Whatcom County, 1.2 percent of the population has been tested, according to a calculation made with county health department numbers and the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 population estimate. That’s half the statewide rate of 2.4 percent.

When asked about the lower rate of testing at an April 27 press briefing, county health department communicable disease and epidemiology manager Cindy Hollinsworth said, “Anyone can get tested and there is sufficient testing capacity in our community. We are also, here at the health department, able to test those who cannot get tested by their health care provider or don’t have insurance.”

Currently, testing in Whatcom County is performed by health care providers, at a drive-through testing site in Bellingham that requires a health care provider referral, and at a drive-through site in Point Roberts where residents can get tested even if they don’t have symptoms.

Statewide, 13,842 have tested positive for the virus and 786 have died, according to the state department of health’s April 28 numbers. In the U.S., just over one million have tested positive for the virus and about 59,000 with the virus have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. As of April 27, there were 1,998 people in B.C. who had tested positive and 105 had died, according to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.

Stafholt reports one COVID-related death, no new cases

A Good Samaritan Society – Stafholt resident with COVID-19 has passed away. Shawn Neisteadt, a spokesperson for the South Dakota-based Good Samaritan Society, confirmed the death in an email on April 28, but didn’t say anything about the age, gender or health of the patient who passed away. Whatcom Unified Command, the multi-government group that is handling virus response in Whatcom County, didn’t respond to a request for information about the death or the situation at Stafholt by press time.

In the past week, no additional residents or employees of the skilled nursing facility in Blaine have tested positive, Neisteadt said. To date, 17 Stafholt residents and seven employees have tested positive, Neisteadt said. Of those, two residents and six employees have recovered, he said.

Port group makes “heartbreaking” grant decisions

Which small business deserves an emergency grant more: a two-year-old company on an upward track or a 30-year-old business that’s otherwise in danger of closing forever?

That’s the kind of choice the Port of Bellingham’s Regional Economic Partnership had to make with 752 applicants to the state Department of Commerce’s Working Washington Small Business Emergency Grant program.

On April 7, governor Jay Inslee announced the grant program, which allows businesses with one to 10 employees to apply for grants of up to $10,000. The state originally funded the grant with $5 million from the its emergency response fund and later doubled the program’s funding with an additional $5 million.

Still, that will cover only a fraction of the businesses that applied.

The Regional Economic Partnership is the department of commerce’s Associated Development Organization (ADO), a designation that makes it Whatcom County’s commerce representative for economic development matters. As such, the Regional Economic Partnership had the task of narrowing the pool of applicants to about 100, said Gina Stark, Port of Bellingham economic development specialist. Those applications were forwarded to the department of commerce, which makes the final decision.

The Regional Economic Partnership tried to be fair in its decisions by selecting businesses from all sectors and areas of the county, Stark said. The group also tried to put forth a “good portion” of businesses owned by women, tribal members, veterans and minorities, she said. Funds are expected to start reaching businesses in May.

“To determine if this restaurant was more worthy than this other restaurant ... the need far exceeded the resource,” Stark said. “It was a great thing that the government did, but at the same time, it was heartbreaking. It’s not like anything that I ever dreamed I would have to do in this job, and it’s something that I don’t wish on anyone else to have to do.”

Tsunami of unemployment claims as ESD expands eligibility

Washington state’s Employment Security Department (ESD) hasn’t yet released the number of unemployment claims filed last week, but it expected to see a tsunami of new claims. The federal CARES Act, which expanded unemployment eligibility, went into effect on April 18.

From April 12 to 18, 82,435 people made first-time claims for unemployment benefits and 605,514 people total filed for unemployment, ESD said in an April 23 press release. The number of new claims was down 42 percent from the previous week, but the total number of claims continues to grow.

Some public lands, fishing and golfing to re-open May 5

Washingtonians will soon have much more access to public lands, governor Jay Inslee said during a televised April 27 announcement to the public.

Starting Tuesday, May 5, most state parks, along with public lands managed by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife will re-open, along with fishing, hunting and golf. Some national parks and forests are expected to open at about the same time. Most land managers closed public lands in March, after the governor issued a stay-at-home order effective March 23 to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.

Most state parks will open on May 5, Washington State Parks director Don Hoch said, but some would need extra time to coordinate re-opening with local communities.

The governor’s office is working with the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service on opening some federal lands at about the same time, said Jon Synder, the governor’s policy advisor on outdoor recreation and economic development. “Please call ahead and make sure the place you want to go is open and expect that some of our national partners will not have all their places open yet,” he said.

Inslee has not extended his stay-at-home order beyond May 4. Last week Inslee took a step toward re-opening the state by announcing that construction projects already underway could restart, provided they could be done with adequate physical distancing.

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