KGMI
BELLINGHAM, Wash. Lighthouse Mission Ministries has expanded its capacity at Base Camp.
The homeless services center gained the capability to administer rapid COVID-19 tests Tuesday, allowing the facility to welcome five to ten people per day who have not been staying consistently at Base Camp.
The shelter has implemented a thorough symptom screening process that includes symptom screening, a temperature check and a rapid COVID-19 test that provides results in 15 minutes.
Twice a week testing continues at Base Camp since discovering three guests and one staff member had positive tests, the most recent of which was on December 6.
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Use of covid quarantine facility in Bellingham is at its highest. This is one reason why
The Bellingham Herald 12/17/2020 Kie Relyea, The Bellingham Herald (Bellingham, Wash.)
Dec. 17 BELLINGHAM The majority of the record 30 people staying at Whatcom County s COVID-19 quarantine and isolation facility are from homeless communities, according to the county.
Exactly how many people linked to two homeless communities are staying at the facility wasn t known, according to Amy Cloud, spokesperson for Whatcom Unified Command.
The quarantine and isolation facility at the former Motel 6 on Byron Avenue in Bellingham was opened in late April by unified command, the multi-governmental agency that s directing local COVID-19 pandemic response.
Bellingham finds new site for winter shelter for those who are homeless
The Bellingham Herald 12/11/2020 Kie Relyea, The Bellingham Herald (Bellingham, Wash.)
Up to 28 people who are homeless will stay at a temporary winter shelter at Frank Geri Softball Fields on Puget Street, according to an email from the Bellingham mayor’s office on Thursday, Dec. 10.
Bellingham nonprofit HomesNOW! will operate the encampment, which will be located in the parking lot for the softball fields that are part of the Civic Athletic Complex in the Puget neighborhood.
HomesNOW! already runs Unity Village, a tiny homes encampment located in the parking lot at 210 McKenzie Ave. near the Post Point Water Treatment Plant in the Fairhaven neighborhood.
Whatcom sees an additional 26 COVID-19 cases and one death, state reports Wednesday
The Bellingham Herald 12/10/2020 David Rasbach, The Bellingham Herald (Bellingham, Wash.)
One death and 26 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Whatcom County, according to the Washington State Department of Health Wednesday, Dec. 9.
Whatcom County now has seen 2,763 confirmed cases and 54 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 8. That means that 2% of the Whatcom residents who have tested positive for COVID during the pandemic have died.
The state Department of Health data Wednesday also showed Whatcom County has had 159 hospitalizations (no change from Tuesday’s report).