Whatcom sees 18 new COVID-related hospitalizations, now failing metric to stay in Phase 3

Whatcom County officially has no margin for error to remain in Phase 3 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s Healthy Washington — Roadmap to Recovery plan — other than time.

On the day that Inslee put a pause on moving counties up or down phases in the state’s recovery plan from COVID-19, Whatcom County found itself failing one of two metrics used to determine whether it will stay in Phase 3 or not and straddling the barrier of the second.

Fortunately, the state’s next data evaluation is two weeks off, so Whatcom receives a reprieve until at least then.