As Whatcom’s limited vaccine supply persists, state reports 20 new COVID cases Tuesday
As Whatcom County continues to wrestle with limited vaccine supply, the county had 20 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and no new related deaths reported by the Washington State Department of Health’s dashboard on Tuesday, Feb. 2.
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 5,630 confirmed cases and 65 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Monday, Feb. 1, meaning 1.1% of all COVID cases in Whatcom County have been linked to a death.
Thirty-four additional probable cases — an increase of three from Monday’s report — have been reported in Whatcom County during the pandemic, resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
The 20 new cases reported Tuesday mean Whatcom County has had 2,161 cases — or 38.4% of its pandemic total — reported in 2021, and it has averaged 53.7 reported cases per day the past week.
The state cautioned that Tuesday’s data may include up to 270 duplicate cases statewide and that deaths were not updated due to another data processing issue.
The state Department of Health data Tuesday also showed Whatcom County has had 281 hospitalizations during the pandemic, an increase of nine from Monday’s report.
The state reported that a total of 151,942 molecular tests have been administered in Whatcom County during the pandemic — an increase of 782 tests from Monday’s report — meaning 3.7% of all reported tests during the pandemic have come back positive. The state cautioned that negative test results from Nov. 21-30 are incomplete.
Monday’s vaccination report said that as of 11:59 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 30, Whatcom County had administered 15,764 vaccinations — an increase of 1,583 vaccinations from Friday’s report, which was through 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 27. An average of 488.86 Whatcom County residents per day received a vaccination dose from Jan. 24-30, down from the 684.43 seven-day average on Friday. Vaccination data is released Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The state estimates that 7.03% of the county (or approximately 15,839 residents) have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 1.66% of the county (or approximately 3,740 residents) are fully vaccinated. The number of vaccines given and people vaccinated may not match, according to the dashboard, because people may be vaccinated in counties other than where they live.
According to the data released Monday, Whatcom residents have received approximately 2.2% of the 728,636 total vaccine doses administered in the state — down from 2.3% in Friday’s report. For comparison, Whatcom County represents 3.0% of the state’s total population, according to 2019 U.S. Census estimates.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham, which is licensed and staffed for 241 beds, reported to The Herald on Wednesday it was treating 27 patients for COVID-19, an increase of one from Tuesday’s report. St. Joseph has banned visitors at the medical center until further notice while COVID-19 remains a public health threat.
Western Washington University’s most recent on-campus student COVID testing data show Wednesday that since Sept. 15 WWU has tested 19,261 students, 71 of whom had positive tests — unchanged from Tuesday’s report. The college has seen 33 new cases since the school resumed testing following the winter break after seeing 38 cases during the fall quarter.
The Nooksack Indian Tribe announced in a Facebook post Tuesday that it has seen two more confirmed case within its community, bringing the pandemic total to 49. Seven cases are active, one case is listed as unrecovered while 41 have recovered, according to the post. So far, the Nooksack health team has conducted 2,663 tests during the pandemic, with results for four pending. Nooksack instituted a Shelter in Place Order on Jan. 6, mandating that all residents stay in their homes except for essential reasons and restricted them from gathering with people outside their households until further notice.
The Lummi Tribal Health Center reported in a Facebook post Tuesday that it had 22 new confirmed cases, bringing the total number of cases in the Lummi community during the pandemic to 321. The Lummi health department reported it has 77 active cases and two current hospitalizations. During the pandemic, 12 community members have been hospitalized, two have died and the health center has conducted 3,996 tests. Positive tests for the last two weeks are at 22.16%. The Lummi Indian Business Council’s Phase 1 Shelter in Place Order is in place until Feb. 23.
PeaceHealth vaccine availability
PeaceHealth is continuing to prioritize providing first and second doses to healthcare workers in Phase 1A due to a continued limited supply of COVID-19 vaccine, according to a Nextdoor post by St. Joseph hospital spokesperson Bev Mayhew.
“We estimate that there are more than 1,000 individuals in this category who have yet to receive a first dose,” Mayhew wrote in the post. “We do not have adequate supply this week to actively reach out and vaccinate many individuals in the 1B1 category, however we are hoping to schedule a few high-risk patients in this category.”
If it does have enough supply, Mayhew reported PeaceHealth will reach out to eligible Phase 1B1 individuals based on provider recommendations.
Mayhew also said that PeaceHealth does not have information about next week’s vaccine shipment (Feb. 7-13), and “therefore we cannot speculate on appointment availability for individuals (in) the 1A or 1B1 category.”
Whatcom County Health will hold a virtual town hall concerning vaccine updates at 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 4, the organization announced on Facebook. Any questions should be submitted to the questionnaire form by Wednesday, Feb. 3.
Other vaccine availability updates
▪ SeaMar: Sea Mar, which has locations in Bellingham and Everson, posted online on Tuesday, Feb. 2, that it has no COVID-19 vaccine doses at 31 of its community health centers.
Sea Mar is providing the vaccine on a first-come, first-served basis. When doses are available, people must arrive at a clinic before 3 p.m. that day.
“Note that due to high demand, even if a clinic is listed as having vaccines available, they may run out of vaccines before 3 p.m. and may not be able to provide vaccines to everyone who walks in,” Sea Mar states on its website. “Our clinics are monitoring this on-site and will communicate with everyone in line about the availability of vaccines, and this webpage is updated as changes occur.”
▪ Family Care Network: Family Care Network said online that most of its vaccine appointments for the week of Feb. 1 have been filled.
”FCN does not have confirmation from the state that we will receive more vaccine,” the health care provider states online. “Until the state allocates more vaccine to FCN, we are not able to create more appointments.”
Family Care Network said it is not keeping a vaccination waitlist.
▪ Other sites: Other providers listed on the state Department of Health’s COVID-19 vaccine finder online for Whatcom County — there are a total of six — didn’t have available doses as of Tuesday, Feb. 2.
In addition to the two Sea Mar sites, the Safeway Pharmacy near Lynden didn’t have it either. Nor did the Haggen Pharmacy on Woburn Street. Ditto for the Costco Pharmacy.
Fred Meyer, which is not listed on the state vaccine finder website, said it had limited quantities available at select locations in Washington state. But a quick check on Tuesday, Feb. 2, turned up no available appointment slots.
—Kie Relyea, krelyea@bhamherald.com
Lummi Early Learning Program
A student or staff member involved with Lummi’s Early Learning Program has been diagnosed with COVID-19, according to a letter from Director Janelle Johnson posted by the Lummi Communications Facebook page.
That person was on school grounds Monday, Feb. 1, and had direct contact with students and staff, the letter states.
Any people identified as having been potentially exposed will be contacted by the Lummi Public Health Department and asked to quarantine at home and monitor for symptoms, according to the letter. Letters will also be sent to parents of potential direct exposure.
Whatcom’s risk assessment
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard was last updated Tuesday evening for data as of 11:59 p.m. Monday, Feb. 1. With a shift to “Healthy Washington” goals to resume business activities, the state is more specific on reporting dates for some metrics. The dashboard does not update on the weekends.
Whatcom County was missing the marks on two key metrics:
▪ Whatcom is missing the target rate of fewer than 25 new cases per 100,000 residents Jan. 10-23 with a rate of 431.9 — a decrease from 449.6 reported Monday. Whatcom County has the ninth-highest infection rate in the state, according to Tuesday’s data.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 molecular testing rate per 100,000 people Jan. 9-15 of 419.8. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 297.4, and Whatcom’s average was a decrease from the 447.8 reported Monday.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2.0% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 Jan. 9-15 with a rate of 8.6% — an increase from the 8.1% reported Monday.
The latest Healthcare System Readiness risk assessment dashboard, updated Tuesday evening for data through Monday, shows for the North region, which combines Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, San Juan and Island counties:
▪ Occupied beds: 999 of the region’s 1,235 adult hospital beds (80.9%) were occupied, missing the state’s goal of 80% or less and an increase of one occupied bed from data Monday.
▪ COVID occupied beds: 97 of the region’s 1,235 adult hospital beds (7.9%) were occupied by COVID patients, making the state’s goal of 10% or less and an increase of two occupied beds from data Monday.
▪ Occupied ICU beds: 91 of the region’s 139 adult ICU beds (65.5%) were occupied. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was a decrease of six beds being used from data Monday.
▪ COVID occupied ICU beds: 24 of the region’s 139 adult ICU beds (17.3%) were occupied by COVID patients. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was a decrease of three beds being used from data Monday.
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Wednesday morning:
▪ The U.S. has more than 26.4 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and more than 447,000 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 103.9 million reported cases and 2.2 million deaths.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Tuesday evening:
▪ 300,018 confirmed cases, an increase of 920 from reported cases on Monday.
▪ 14,674 probable cases, an increase of 437 from Monday’s data.
▪ 17,892 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 80 from data Monday.
▪ 4,614,768 total molecular tests, an increase of 17,178 from Monday’s data.
▪ 4,316 deaths related to COVID-19, a decrease of two deaths from Monday’s data, but the state said deaths were not reported Tuesday due to another data processing error.
According to the state’s latest vaccination report, which is updated Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays:
▪ 728,636 vaccinations had been given through Saturday, an increase of 112,047.
▪ The state has averaged administering 28,115 doses of vaccines the past seven days — almost two-thirds of the Department of Health’s stated goal of 45,000.
▪ The state estimates that 7.88% of the state’s residents have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 1.73% percent of residents are fully vaccinated.
▪ 896,850 doses have been delivered to Washington state providers (an increase of 43,525 from Friday’s report) and 132,600 doses have been delivered for the CDC’s long-term care program (an increase of 1,950 from Friday’s report).
▪ Of the total 1,029,450 doses delivered, 70.78% have been given.
Washington state actions
In the “Healthy Washington” plan introduced by Gov. Jay Inslee Jan. 5, business resumption is tied to targets by health system regions. Whatcom is tied to Skagit, San Juan and Island counties in the plan.
The state will run analyses every other Friday to determine whether regions will move backward or forward in phases the following Monday, officials said.
All regions began in Phase 1 on Jan. 11, and the Puget Sound and West Region will move to Phase 2 Monday, Feb. 1. It allows live entertainment with ticketed groups of up to 10 people and very limited fitness activities such as appointment-based training in gyms.
Phase 2 allows restaurants and indoor fitness centers to open indoors at 25% capacity and allows for sports competitions to resume with limited spectators, and wedding, and funeral ceremonies can increase capacities.
Whatcom County is in the North Region, along with Skagit, San Juan and Island counties, and remains in Phase 1.
This story was originally published February 3, 2021 at 8:07 AM with the headline "As Whatcom’s limited vaccine supply persists, state reports 20 new COVID cases Tuesday."
