As news of U.S. loosening border restrictions breaks, Whatcom sees 46 new COVID cases

On the day that news broke that vaccinated visitors from Canada and Mexico would be able to cross the land borders into the U.S. beginning in November, 46 more Whatcom County residents tested positive for COVID-19. The county has now seen 14,238 confirmed COVID cases during the pandemic, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard on Tuesday, Oct. 12. An additional 1,139 probable cases, resulting from a positive antigen test not confirmed by a molecular test, have been reported in Whatcom — unchanged from the previous report.

The state also reports the county has a two-week infection rate of 412 cases per 100,000 residents, based on the most recently completed epidemiological data from Sept. 20 to Oct. 3. That is down from a rate of 421 one week earlier (Sept. 13-26).