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For the first time in more than a year and a half, St. Joseph’s hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating no patients for COVID-related symptoms on Friday, April 15.

It matched the feat on Saturday, April 16, though the daily snapshot increased to four COVID-related patients on Sunday, April 17, and five on Monday, April 18. Friday and Saturday marked the first time the hospital has reported zero COVID-related patients since Sept. 28, 2020 — a stretch of 565 days, according to Bellingham Herald records.

Over the past week, the hospital’s daily snapshot has averaged 1.9 COVID-related patients, which is down from 3.9 one week earlier (April 5-11) and represents 0.7% of the hospital’s 252 total inpatient beds. Overall, Whatcom County had 229 total new COVID-19 cases (confirmed and probable combined) reported by the Washington State Department of Health COVID-19 Data Dashboard last week. That was up slightly from the 203 total cases reported the week before and upped the county’s pandemic total to 37,658 cases as of Friday.