On day Inslee expands mask mandate, Whatcom County sees 70 new confirmed COVID cases

Whatcom County saw 70 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and 22 additional probable cases reported on the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID Data Dashboard Wednesday, Aug. 18.

It is the second straight day the county’s pandemic total of confirmed cases has increased by 70 cases, as there have now been 10,673 confirmed cases in Whatcom. Whatcom has an additional 597 probable cases during the pandemic, resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.

The increase came the same day Gov. Jay Inslee expanded the state indoor mask mandate to include everyone again in indoor settings, regardless of vaccine status, in an effort to slow the disease spread.