After location data corrected, Whatcom sees infection rates increase in 3 regions
Once a data point error was corrected by the Whatcom County Health Department on Thursday, Dec. 31, the location of Whatcom County’s COVID-19 cases last week painted a completely different picture from earlier in the week.
The Bellingham Herald asked Whatcom Unified Command why the latest location data released by the health department on Tuesday, Dec. 29, showed only 11 new cases between Dec. 19 and Dec. 26, meaning none of Whatcom’s seven school district regions had double-digit increases.
The health department’s data team investigated and found that the date range for the latest release was accidentally set incorrectly, creating faulty numbers, Whatcom Unified Command spokesperson Jennifer Moon said in an email. The date range was corrected and the data updated on the health department’s website Thursday, and the new data showed a total of 175 cases in Whatcom County last week.
The new data shows only three Whatcom regions saw their infection rates drop last week, while three saw increases. And no region had fewer than 10 new cases last week.
The county health department releases weekly data on the location of COVID-19 cases by school district, including each district’s number of total cases during the pandemic and its infection rates per 100,000 residents the past two weeks. Data in Tuesday’s report was through Dec. 26, and the infection rates reflected cases between Dec. 13 and Dec. 26.
For the third straight week, all seven regions had infection rates above 100, as Ferndale, Lynden and Meridian saw their rates go up. Bellingham’s, Blaine’s and Mount Baker’s infection rates dropped, and Nooksack Valley, which for the fourth straight week held the county’s highest infection rate, was unchanged.
Overall, the county saw a 5.7% growth in cases (175 cases) since the last data release on Dec. 22 — a decrease from the 7.2% growth and 207 new cases seen the previous week, according to the county’s data.
With 382 cases the past two weeks, according to the report, Whatcom County has an infection rate of 169.8, based on 225,000 residents in the county. Four of the county’s regions had infection rates higher than that mark, according to the county’s data.
Here is what the health department’s latest data showed for the seven regions in the county:
Bellingham: Up 5.0% (67 cases) since Dec. 22 to 1,405 total cases and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 173 to 156. Bellingham had 81 new cases between Dec. 15 and Dec. 22, according to the health department data.
Blaine: Up 5.6% (10 cases) since Dec. 22 to 188 total cases and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 165 to 125 Blaine had 12 new cases between Dec. 15 and Dec. 22, according to the health department data.
Ferndale: Up 4.4% (27 cases) since Dec. 22 to 646 total cases and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 158 to 194. Ferndale had 40 new cases between Dec. 15 and Dec. 22, according to the health department data.
Lynden: Up 7.4% (29 cases) since Dec. 22 to 422 total cases and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 267 to 292. Lynden had 23 new cases between Dec. 15 and Dec. 22, according to the health department data.
Meridian: Up 6.9% (13 cases) since Dec. 22 to 202 total cases and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 130 to 223. Meridian had eight new cases between Dec. 15 and Dec. 22, according to the health department data.
Mount Baker: Up 7.1% (10 cases) since Dec. 22 to 151 total cases and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 215 to 190. Mount Baker had 20 new cases between Dec. 15 and Dec. 22, according to the health department data.
Nooksack Valley: Up 8.1% (19 cases) since Dec. 22 to 254 total cases and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days remained at 388. Nooksack Valley had 23 new cases between Dec. 15 and 22, according to the health department data.
This story was originally published December 30, 2020 at 12:12 PM.
