COVID-19: Novel Coronavirus

Our health advisories have the latest information.

Closely monitor health advisories for updated guidance, situational awareness and resources for providers and patients.

• View health advisories.
• Sign up to receive health advisories by email.

To report, call the reporting line: 360-778-6150.

Vaccine

Everyone 6 months or older is eligible to get ta COVID-19 Vaccine. For the latest information, visit our COVID-19 Vaccine Information for Providers page. Find a printable COVID vaccine schedule here. 

Testing

People with COVID-19 report a wide range of symptoms, from mild to severe. Symptoms may appear 2 to 14 days after exposure and include:

• Cough.
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing.
• Fever.
• Chills.
• Muscle pain.
• Headache.
• Sore throat.
• Loss of taste or smell.

People with mild to moderate illness can test at home or go to a COVID-19 test site in our community. Emergency departments are not for routine COVID-19 testing unless the patient needs emergency care.

Follow Washington State Department of Health’s (DOH’s) updated testing criteria. For more information, view:

• Testing for SARS-CoV-2, CDC.
• Instructions for collecting specimens for testing, CDC.

Teach your patients 

• How to access, use and interpret at-home COVID-19 test kits.
• They must report positive test results to Washington State Department of Health (DOH) at (800) 525-0127.
• How to care for their mild to moderate illness at home and when to go to the emergency department.

Isolation and quarantine

• Interim guidance for managing healthcare personnel with SARS-CoV-2 infection or exposure, CDC.
• Calculating quarantine and isolation, CDC.

Treatment

For information about pre-exposure and post-diagnosis COVID-19 therapeutics, view our COVID-19 Treatment Information for Providers page.

Considerations for special populations 

Immunocompromised 

• Interim guidance on using Evusheld, DOH.

Pregnant or breastfeeding

• Care for breastfeeding people, CDC.
• COVID-19 frequently asked questions (FAQs) for obstetricians and gynecologists, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Long-Term care 

• Interim guidance for transferring residents between long-term care and other healthcare settings, DOH. 

Healthcare workers

• COVID-19 information for healthcare providers, CDC.
• Interim guidance for managing healthcare personnel with SARS-CoV-2 infection or exposure, CDC.

Children and teens

• Case definition and guidance for multisystem inflammatory system in children (MIS-C), CDC.
• Clinical considerations: myocarditis and pericarditis, CDC.

Personal protective equipment

• PPE when caring for patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19, CDC.
• Video instructions for donning and doffing PPE, Providence.

Safety

• Guidance on discontinuing transmission-based precautions in healthcare facilities, CDC.
• Return-to-work guidance for healthcare workers, CDC.
• COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness and safety, CDC.
• Case definition and guidance for multisystem inflammatory system in adults (MIS-A), CDC.
• Report adverse events to CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).
• Encourage people to sign up for CDC’s V-Safe, a post-vaccine health check-up and adverse event reporting system.

Long COVID

• Post-COVID-19 conditions, CDC.
• Post-COVID-19 conditions, DOH.

Educational and promotional materials

• Register to access free promotional materials, DOH.
• As patients’ trusted source of medical information, you play a critical role in increasing COVID-19 vaccination. Join the Power of Providers Initiative, DOH. 
• Provider Toolkit with many printable materials, DOH. 
• What parents/guardians need to know about pediatric COVID-19 vaccine, DOH. 

Patient resources

• Care Connect Washington provides food, care kits and other assistance to people who need to isolate or quarantine due to COVID-19.
• Washington Listens connects people with support specialists and community resources. 
• Northwest Justice Project gives free civil legal aid to eligible people with low incomes. 

Healthcare provider resources

• Healthcare providers can bill for COVID-19 vaccine counseling and administration. For more information, see the reimbursement policies for Medicaid and uninsured patients. 
• National news and case counts, CDC. 
• Healthcare providers resources and recommendations, DOH.

Additional guidance 

• Testing guidance, CDC.
• Healthcare providers, DOH.
• Healthcare providers, CDC.
• Travelers, CDC.
• Preventing transmission in homes and communities, CDC.

Contacting the Health Department

Contact Whatcom County Health and Community Services at 360-778-6100

• Contacting The Health Department.
  • 360-778-6100 Main Call Line – available M-F 8:30am to 4:30pm.
    • Afterhours Answering Service – available after 4:30pm and weekends, call 360-778-6100 and press 2 to be connected to the on-call manager or health officer.
  • 360-778-6150 Communicable Disease Report Line – 24 hours a day 7 days a week
  • 360-778-6103 Confidential Communicable Disease Fax – 24 hours a day 7 days a week
  • 509 Girard Street, Bellingham WA 98225