Whatcom sees three deaths and 76 new confirmed COVID-19 cases Wednesday, state reports
Whatcom County had three COVID-related deaths reported by the Washington State Department of Health’s dashboard on Wednesday, Jan. 27, and its confirmed case total increased by 76.
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 5,330 confirmed cases and 63 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 26, meaning 1.2% of all COVID cases in Whatcom County have been linked to a death.
Fifteen additional probable cases — unchanged from Tuesday’s report — have been reported in Whatcom County during the pandemic, resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
Whatcom’s three reported deaths Wednesday were the most the county has seen reported in a single day since it had three reported Dec. 3, though those three deaths were later reconciled and removed from the county total reported by the state four days later. It also means the county’s death total has increased by four in the past two days and raised the number reported so far in 2021 to eight.
According to the state’s epidemiologic curves, one of the people whose death was reported Wednesday first tested positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 31, and the other two tested positive on Jan. 11. No other information about the people, including their age or gender, was reported.
Since Jan. 1, Whatcom County’s reported case total has increased by 1,861 — already the largest number in a month the county has seen by almost 800 cases and more than a third (34.9%) of the county’s total cases during the pandemic.
‘Cautiously optimistic’
In spite of Wednesday’s discouraging numbers, Whatcom County Health Department Director Erika Lautenbach said she’s seeing signs that the county may be emerging from its post-holiday surge.
“We are cautiously optimistic,” Lautenbach said during an online briefing Wednesday. “In the last week we’ve seen our rates start to come down a bit. We’re very grateful to the community for taking our warnings and our urgent asks seriously, and we’re starting to see the results of that.”
Whatcom’s seven-day average of cases per day increased slightly to 55.9 — up from 53.4 after Tuesday’s report. But the fact that number has been in the 50s all week, rather than last week’s 70s, 80s, 90s and even the pandemic-high 107.0 average on Jan. 17 is possibly a sign of hope.
In addition, Lautenbach said Whatcom County has seen its test positivity rate drop slightly and the demand for testing at its low-barrier testing site has been down.
Based on numbers provided by the state’s dashboard, Whatcom’s test positivity based on the dates data was reported was approximately 6.0% from Jan. 21-27 (391 reported cases and 6,519 reported tests), which is down from the 10.3% positivity rate seen from data reported Jan. 14-20 (487 cases and 4,713 tests).
“This is all good news and good indications,” Lautenbach said. “It is too soon to tell if this is a true trend or a blip, but we are cautiously optimistic as we are starting to see these case rates come down.”
Other data
The state Department of Health data Wednesday also showed Whatcom County has had 266 hospitalizations during the pandemic, an increase of six from Tuesday’s report.
The state reported that a total of 145,678 molecular tests have been administered in Whatcom County during the pandemic — an increase of 1,198 tests from Tuesday’s report. The state cautioned that negative test results from Nov. 21-30 and since Jan. 10 still are incomplete.
Wednesday’s vaccination report said that as of 11:59 p.m. Monday, Jan. 25, Whatcom County had administered 11,998 vaccinations — an increase of 202 vaccinations from Monday’s report, which was through 11:59 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23. An average of 632.14 Whatcom County residents per day received a vaccination dose from Jan. 17-23, down from the 656.6 seven-day average on Monday. Vaccination data is released Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The state estimates that 5.2% of the county (or approximately 11,761 residents) have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 1.23% of the county (or approximately 2,771 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 Wednesday, Whatcom residents have received approximately 2.2% of the 545,226 total vaccine doses administered in the state — down from 2.4% in Monday’s report.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham, which is licensed and staffed for 241 beds, reported to The Herald on Wednesday it was treating 30 patients for COVID-19, an increase of seven from Wednesday’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 Thursday that since Sept. 15 WWU has tested 18,431 students, 70 of whom had positive tests — an increase of two from Wednesday’s report. The college has seen 32 new cases since the school resumed testing following the winter break after seeing 38 cases during the fall quarter.
The Lummi Tribal Health Center reported in a Facebook post Wednesday that it had 14 new confirmed cases, bringing the total number of cases in the Lummi community during the pandemic to 268. The Lummi health department reported it has 50 active cases and three current hospitalizations. During the pandemic, 11 community members have been hospitalized, two have died and the health center has conducted 3,860 tests. Positive tests for the last two weeks are at 16.58%. The Lummi Indian Business Council’s Phase 1 Shelter in Place Order is in place until Feb. 23.
Out of vaccine
To illustrate the shortage of COVID-19 vaccines in Whatcom County, Health Director Lautenbach said Tuesday that absolutely none was available.
Lautenbach told the County Council that 11,796 doses of the 11,800 doses received last week had been administered to qualifying patients.
“There is no vaccine sitting in a refrigerator, there is no vaccine waiting for second doses, it is out in the community,” she said during an online committee meeting.
“We have been out of vaccine in Whatcom County for three days now and waiting for the next dosage,” she said.
But that doesn’t mean that patients who are waiting for their second dose won’t get it, said Amy Hockenberry, who is the Health Department’s head of vaccine planning.
Those second doses are already allocated, Hockenberry said in an online press conference Wednesday.
—Robert Mittendorf, rmittendorf@bhamherald.com
Vaccination site update
The Washington State Department of Health is saying that Bellingham’s identification as a mass COVID-19 vaccination site is tentative.
“As part of the state’s vaccine planning efforts, multiple sites have been identified across the state’s Healthy-WA Roadmap to Recovery regions to help with wide-scale vaccination, if needed, and when there is more supply of vaccine,” said Shelby Anderson, spokesperson for the state agency.
“These sites are tentative expansion sites and could change,” Anderson said in an email to The Bellingham Herald. “Plans are not in place and there currently is not a timeline for when additional state-supported, regionally coordinated and locally benefited mass vaccination sites will be added.”
The state has so far committed to setting up four mass vaccinations sites -- in Kennewick, Ridgefield, Spokane, and Wenatchee.
—Kie Relyea, krelyea@bhamherald.com
Work Center update
As of Wednesday, the Whatcom County Jail’s Work Center had 34 confirmed COVID-19 cases among inmates at the minimum-security facility on Division Street, according to a Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office news release Wednesday afternoon.
While that is an increase of 11 cases from what the sheriff’s office reported to The Bellingham Herald Monday, they are the only confirmed cases seen at the Work Center or the downtown jail during the pandemic.
In response to the outbreak at the facility, the sheriff’s office and health department have been coordinating daily to “assess needs for mitigation measures such as on-site quarantine and isolation arrangements, PPE needs, and environmental controls,” the release stated. The health department also is providing on-site testing for all inmates and staff at the facility twice a week.
Those who test positive are showing mild COVID-19 symptoms, according to the release, and have been isolated with others who have tested positive and are receiving medical care. One inmate was released in a coordinated effort between the sheriff’s office and health department to ensure they had a safe place to quarantine, the release stated.
“We know so much more a year into this than we did during some of our, quote, first really, really challenging outbreaks in our long-term care facilities,” Lautenbach said during the briefing. “So we have good systems in place. We have good collaborative relationships in place with the sheriff’s office and their staff.”
Bellingham school sees case
Geneva Elementary school saw its first COVID-19 case this school year, according to Bellingham Public School’s COVID-19 dashboard on Wednesday, though it was the 11th case the district has seen since in-person learning resumed.
Only one case has been reported at Geneva, though it did require one class return to remote learning, according to the dashboard, with an expected return date of Feb. 9.
Geneva joins Bellingham’s list of schools that have seen a COVID case, including Birchwood (three cases), Sunnyland, Wade King, Silver Beach, Alderwood and Lowell elementaries, Fairhaven Middle School and an 11th case at a non-school location. None of the district’s 11 incidents have included more than one reported case.
The district estimates 2,600 students have returned for in-person learning and 900 staff members are working on site.
Whatcom’s risk assessment
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard was last updated Wednesday evening for data as of 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 26. 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. 4-17 with a rate of 524.6 — a decrease from 530.0 reported Tuesday.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 molecular testing rate per 100,000 people Jan. 3-9 of 408.9. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 336.2, and Whatcom’s average was an increase from the 393.4 reported Tuesday.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2.0% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 Jan. 3-9 with a rate of 9.7% — a decrease from the 10.0% reported Tuesday.
The latest Healthcare System Readiness risk assessment dashboard, updated Wednesday evening for data through Tuesday, shows for the North region, which combines Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, San Juan and Island counties:
▪ Occupied beds: 986 of the region’s 1,240 adult hospital beds (79.5%) were occupied, making the state’s goal of 80% or less and a decrease of one occupied bed from data Tuesday.
▪ COVID occupied beds: 89 of the region’s 1,240 adult hospital beds (7.2%) were occupied by COVID patients, making the state’s goal of 10% or less and a decrease of six occupied beds from data Tuesday.
▪ Occupied ICU beds: 88 of the region’s 137 adult ICU beds (64.2%) were occupied. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was a decrease of three beds being used from data Tuesday.
▪ COVID occupied ICU beds: 28 of the region’s 137 adult ICU beds (20.4%) were occupied by COVID patients. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was an increase of five beds being used from data Tuesday.
Contact tracing update
If anyone in Whatcom County is more excited than Lautenbach to see the recent decrease in the county’s caseload, it’s the health department’s contact tracers, who have had to work hard to keep up with daily case numbers that often stretched into triple digits in recent weeks.
“We were keeping up,” Lautenbach said during Wednesday’s briefing. “It was very challenging, but we’re in a better position, and I can hear the levity in the voices of our leads that we’re in a better position, at least with what we’re seeing in terms of the case rates.”
Expanding the training of contact tracers to do more in-depth case investigating and case investigators to do more contact tracing was a big part in the team’s ability to keep up with the high case numbers, Lautenbach said.
The health department has previously reported approximately 80% of all transmission in the county during most of November and December was occurring from small social gatherings and household contact, and Lautenbach said those sources are still the predominant areas for transmission now.
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Thursday morning:
▪ The U.S. has more than 25.6 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and more than 430,000 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 101.0 million reported cases and 2.1 million deaths.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Wednesday afternoon:
▪ 291,701 confirmed cases, an increase of 1,533 from reported cases on Tuesday.
▪ 13,588 probable cases, an increase of 274 from Tuesday’s data.
▪ 17,449 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 95 from data Tuesday.
▪ 4,470,215 total molecular tests, an increase of 23,371 from Tuesday’s data.
▪ 4,211 deaths related to COVID-19 were reported, an increase of 44 from Tuesday’s report.
▪ According to Wednesday’s vaccination report, 545,226 vaccinations had been given by Monday, an increase of 45,121 from Monday’s report. The state has averaged administering 26,412 doses of vaccines the past seven days — more than half of the Department of Health’s stated goal of 45,000. The state estimates that 6.04% of the state’s residents have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 1.14% percent of residents are fully vaccinated. Vaccination data is updated Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
▪ According to Wednesday’s vaccination report, 774,425 doses have been delivered to Washington state providers (an increase of 54,650 from Monday’s report) and 125,775 doses have been delivered for the CDC’s long-term care program (an increase of 975 from Monday report), and of the total 900,200 doses delivered, 60.57% 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 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 28, 2021 at 10:11 AM.
