As Whatcom schools report new COVID-19 cases, county sees 45 new positive tests Monday
Whatcom County saw 45 new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported over two days by the Washington State Department of Health’s dashboard on Monday, Jan. 25, but no new deaths were reported..
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 5,231 confirmed cases and 59 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 24, meaning 1.1% of all COVID cases in Whatcom County have been linked to a death.
Fifteen additional probable cases — a decrease of two from Saturday’s report — have been reported in Whatcom County during the pandemic, resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
Since Jan. 1, Whatcom County’s reported case total has increased by 1,762 — already the largest count in a month the county has seen by more than 700 cases and more than a third (33.6%) of the county’s total cases during the pandemic. Whatcom’s seven-day average of reported cases did decrease from 76.1 cases per day Saturday to 51.4 cases per day Monday.
The state warned that total case counts Monday were incomplete due to another interruption in the Department of Health’s data process.
Though the first cases of the B.1.1.7 strain (United Kingdom variant) have been seen in Pierce and Snohomish counties, the Whatcom County Health Department told The Bellingham Herald Monday that that strain has not been detected in Whatcom County. Northwest Laboratory is actively checking for evidence of this new strain, and the health department said it will notify the public if the variant appears in Whatcom County.
The state Department of Health data Sunday also showed Whatcom County has had 253 hospitalizations during the pandemic, unchanged from Saturday’s report.
The state reported that a total of 143,624 molecular tests have been administered in Whatcom County during the pandemic — an increase of 18,859 tests from Saturday’s report. The state cautioned that negative test results Nov. 21-30 and since Jan. 5 still are incomplete.
Monday’s vaccination report said that as of 11:59 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23, Whatcom County had administered 11,796 vaccinations — an increase of 3,056 vaccinations from Friday’s report, which was through 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 20. An average of 656.6 Whatcom County residents per day received a vaccination dose between Jan. 17 and 23.
The state estimates that 5.06% of the county (or approximately 11,400 residents) have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 1.21% of the county (or approximately 2,726 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 2.4% of the 500,105 total vaccine doses administered in the state.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham, which is licensed and staffed for 241 beds, reported to The Herald on Monday it was treating 18 patients for COVID-19, a decrease of two from the weekend reports. 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 Tuesday that since Sept. 15 WWU has tested 17,871 students, 64 of whom had positive tests — an increase of two from Saturday’s report. The college has seen 26 new cases since the school resumed testing following the winter break.
The Nooksack Indian Tribe announced in a Facebook post Monday that it has seen five more confirmed cases within its community, bringing the pandemic total to 46. Ten cases are active, while 35 have recovered, according to the post. So far, the Nooksack health team has conducted 2,634 tests during the pandemic, with results for nine 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 Monday that it had four new confirmed cases, bringing the total number of cases in the Lummi community during the pandemic to 254. The Lummi health department reported it has 46 active cases and one current hospitalization. During the pandemic, nine community members have been hospitalized, two have died and the health center has conducted 3,801 tests. Positive tests for the last two weeks are at 14.32%. The Lummi Indian Business Council’s Phase 1 Shelter in Place Order is in place until Feb. 23.
Whatcom schools see case
Sunnyland Elementary school saw its first COVID-19 case this school year, according to Bellingham Public School’s COVID-19 dashboard on Monday, though it was the 10th case the district has seen since in-person learning resumed.
Only one case has been reported, though it did require one class return to remote learning, according to the dashboard, with an expected return date of Feb. 4.
Sunnyland joins Bellingham’s list of schools that have seen a COVID case, including Birchwood (three cases), Wade King, Silver Beach, Alderwood and Lowell elementaries, Fairhaven Middle School and a 10th case at a non-school location. None of the district’s 10 incidents have included more than one reported case.
The district estimates 2,500 students have returned for in-person learning and 875 staff members are working on site.
The Lynden School District’s COVID-19 dashboard, meanwhile, showed four new cases in two incidents when it was updated late Monday.
Two new cases were reported at Lynden Middle School the week of Jan. 18-22, bringing the total number of cases reported at the school since Jan. 11 to six. The two new cases reported last week required that certain individuals return to remote learning with an expected return date of Feb. 3.
Two other cases were reported at Fisher Elementary School the week of Jan. 18-22. Those cases required one class return to remote learning until an expected return date of Feb. 3.
Overall, the district’s dashboard reports there have been 23 cases spread across 17 incidents since Lynden students began returning to classes.
Jail’s Work Center update
The Whatcom County Jail’s Work Center has had 10 more inmates test positive for COVID-19, Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Deb Slater told The Herald in an email Monday.
That brings to 23 the total number of inmates who have tested positive — the only confirmed COVID cases in the Work Center or the downtown jail, the sheriff’s office reports — as of Monday morning.
The sheriff’s office announced Wednesday, Jan. 20, that 10 inmates had tested positive on Jan. 19 and 20 after one inmate of the minimum security units at the Work Center notified corrections deputies that they were experiencing some mild symptoms often associated with COVID. Three more positive tests were reported by Slater Friday.
“Offenders who have tested positive are showing mild symptoms, are isolated with the other positive COVID-19 offenders, and given medical care,” Slater wrote. “Two offenders have been released through a coordinated effort with the Health Department.”
As of Monday morning, the sheriff’s office’s weekly jail snapshot showed the Work Center was housing 48 people.
Weekly case watch
Whatcom County topped 500 cases in a single week for the third straight week last week.
The Washington State Department of Health reported 533 new cases last week in Whatcom County between Jan. 17 and 23, as the county’s pandemic total climbed from 4,653 to 5,186 (an 11.5% growth). Last week’s number of cases may actually be slightly less, as another data processing error prevented the state from reporting data on Jan. 16. Instead, two days’ worth of data was reported Jan. 17.
The 533 cases were only two more than the 531 reported a week earlier, but last week’s total marked the 11th straight week Whatcom has surpassed 100 cases in a week and the 12th week during the pandemic that the county’s case total has reached triple figures in a week.
Though the state continued to caution that testing data since Jan. 5 is incomplete, it reported a total of 5,925 tests between Jan. 17 and 23, meaning Whatcom’s test positivity was estimated at 9.0% last week — an improvement from the 13.1% of the week before.
Whatcom’s risk assessment
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard was last updated Monday evening for data as of 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 24. 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. 2-15 with a rate of 494.5 — an increase from 476.3 reported Friday.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 molecular testing rate per 100,000 people Jan. 1-7 of 349.1. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 293.8, and Whatcom’s average was a decrease from the 352.6 reported Friday.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2.0% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 Jan. 1-7 with a rate of 9.8% — an increase from the 7.9% reported Friday.
The latest Healthcare System Readiness risk assessment dashboard, updated Monday evening for data through Sunday, shows for the North region, which combines Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, San Juan and Island counties:
▪ Occupied beds: 1,012 of the region’s 1,196 adult hospital beds (84.6%) were occupied, missing the state’s goal of 80% or less and a decrease of 57 occupied beds from data Friday.
▪ COVID occupied beds: 100 of the region’s 1,196 adult hospital beds (8.4%) were occupied by COVID patients, making the state’s goal of 10% or less and a decrease of 59 occupied beds from data Friday.
▪ Occupied ICU beds: 93 of the region’s 139 adult ICU beds (66.9%) were occupied. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was a decrease of eight beds being used from data Friday.
▪ 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 Friday.
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Tuesday morning:
▪ The U.S. has more than 25.3 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and more than 421,000 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 99.8 million reported cases and 2.1 million deaths.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Monday afternoon:
▪ 288,948 confirmed cases, an increase of 1,917 from reported cases on Saturday, though the state said case numbers were incomplete due to another data processing error.
▪ 13,193 probable cases, an increase of 26 from Saturday data.
▪ 17,259 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 130 from data Saturday.
▪ 4,424,230 total molecular tests, an increase of 50,584 from Saturday’s data.
▪ 4,148 deaths related to COVID-19 were reported, an increase of 34 from Friday’s report (deaths are not reported on the weekend).
▪ 500,105 vaccinations given by Saturday, an increase of 108,910 from Friday’s report. The state has averaged administering 23,964 doses of vaccines the past seven days — slightly more than half of the Department of Health’s stated goal of 45,000. The state estimates that 5.55% of the state’s residents have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 1.04% percent of residents are fully vaccinated.
▪ 719,775 doses have been delivered to Washington state providers (an increase of 300 from Friday’s report) and 124,800 doses have been delivered for the CDC’s long-term care program (an increase of 25,350 from Friday’s report), and of the total 844,574 doses delivered, 59.21% have been given. Vaccination data should next be updated Wednesday.
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.
This story was originally published January 26, 2021 at 8:39 AM.
