Health officials emphasize mask use with signs, displays at Whatcom businesses

Lautenbach emphasized that without widespread mask use, Whatcom County could see nearly 2,000 new cases of COVID-19 every day by Oct. 1,, according to a computer model developed by the Health Department and researchers at Western Washington University.

That model, posted last week at the Health Department website, assumed that 46% of people were complying with guidelines for wearing face coverings.

A second scenario assumed that 80% of people wore masks, and found the daily case count was five.