Whatcom sees 60 new COVID-19 cases Saturday, state reports
Another 60 new confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported by Whatcom County on Saturday, Jan. 23, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s dashboard.
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 5,186 confirmed cases and 59 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Friday, Jan. 22, meaning 1.1% of all COVID cases in Whatcom County have been linked to a death.
Seventeen additional probable cases — an increase of one from Friday’s report — have been reported in Whatcom County during the pandemic, resulting from positive antigen tests, but those cases were not confirmed by a molecular test.
The state Department of Health data Saturday also showed Whatcom County has had 253 hospitalizations during the pandemic, an increase of three from Friday’s report.
The state reported that a total of 141,765 molecular tests have been administered in Whatcom County during the pandemic — an increase of 873 tests from Friday’s report. The state cautioned that negative test results Nov. 21-30 and since Jan. 5 still are incomplete.
It also said that statewide case counts may include up to 650 duplicates.
On Tuesday, the state began releasing statewide and county-by-county data on vaccinations — metrics it says it plans to update on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays..
Friday’s report said that as of 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 20, Whatcom County had administered 8,740 vaccinations — an increase of 1,528 vaccinations from Wednesday’s report, which was through 11:59 p.m. Monday, Jan. 18. The state estimates that 3.81% of the county (or approximately 8,584 residents) have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 0.98% of the county (or approximately 2,208 residents) are fully vaccinated.
According to the data released Friday, Whatcom residents have received approximately 2.2% of the 391,195 total vaccinations administered in the state.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham, which is licensed and staffed for 241 beds, reported to The Bellingham Herald on Saturday it was treating 20 patients daily for COVID-19, a decrease of one from Friday’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 Saturday that since Sept. 15 WWU has tested 17,857 students, 62 of whom had positive tests — an increase of 14 from Friday’s report. The college has seen 24 new cases since the school resumed testing following the winter break.
Whatcom’s risk assessment
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard was last updated Friday evening for data as of 11:59 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21. With a shift to “Healthy Washington” goals to resume business activities, the state was 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 Dec. 30-Jan. 12 with a rate of 476.3 — an increase from 448.3 reported Thursday.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 molecular testing rate per 100,000 people Dec. 29-Jan. 4 of 352.6. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 290.6, and it was an increase from Whatcom’s average of 346.2 reported Thursday.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2.0% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 Dec. 29-Jan. 4 with a rate of 7.9% — an increase from the 7.0% reported Thursday.
The latest Healthcare System Readiness risk assessment dashboard, updated Friday evening for data through Thursday, shows for the North region, which combines Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, San Juan and Island counties:
▪ Occupied beds: 1,069 of the region’s 1,209 adult hospital beds (88.4%) were occupied, missing the state’s goal of 80% or less and an increase of 35 occupied beds from data Thursday.
▪ COVID occupied beds: 159 of the region’s 1,209 adult hospital beds (13.2%) were occupied by COVID patients, missing the state’s goal of 10% or less and a decrease of five occupied beds from data Thursday.
▪ Occupied ICU beds: 101 of the region’s 139 adult ICU beds (72.7%) were occupied. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was an increase of five beds being used from data Thursday.
▪ COVID occupied ICU beds: 27 of the region’s 139 adult ICU beds (19.4%) were occupied by COVID patients. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was unchanged from data Thursday.
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Saturday afternoon:
▪ The U.S. has more than 24.98 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and more than 417,337 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 98.68 million reported cases and 2.11 million deaths.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Saturday afternoon:
▪ 287,031 confirmed cases, an increase of 1,844 from reported cases on Friday.
▪ 13,167 probable cases, an increase of 105 from Friday’s data.
▪ 17,129 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 92 from data Friday.
▪ 4,373,646 total molecular tests, an increase of 23,867 from Friday’s data.
▪ 4,114 deaths related to COVID-19 were reported Friday. Deaths are not reported on the weekends.
▪ 391,195 vaccinations given by Wednesday. The state has averaged administering 17,618 doses of vaccines the past seven days — slightly more than a third of the Department of Health’s stated goal of 45,000. The state estimates that 4.31% of the state’s residents have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 0.84% percent of residents are fully vaccinated.
▪ 719,475 doses have been delivered to Washington state providers and 99,450 doses have been delivered for the CDC’s long-term care program, and of the total 818,925 doses delivered, 47.77% have been given. Vaccination data should next be updated Monday.
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 each 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 continue in Phase 1 until at least 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.
