Whatcom’s latest COVID-19 location data shows positive results throughout the county
All seven regions within Whatcom County saw their two-week COVID-19 infection rates decrease last week — the first time that’s occurred since the Whatcom County Health Department began releasing those rates in late July.
The closest the county previously came to accomplishing the feat was Aug. 17, when five of the seven school district regions saw decreases from the Aug. 10 report and rates from the other two were unchanged.
But last week was exceptionally impressive, considering four of the seven regions saw triple-digit decreases in their infection rates when the health department released its updated location data on Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 2.
Of course, rates in most of Whatcom’s districts were just starting to come down from their pandemic peak highs, meaning there was plenty of room for improvement.
The regions covered by the Lynden and Nooksack Valley school districts both saw their infection rates tumble well below 1,000 cases per 100,000 residents the past two weeks, as both regions’ infection rates dropped by more than a third since last week — Lynden had a decrease of 440 and Nooksack Valley was down 479.
The Mount Baker and Meridian district also had drops of more than 100, and Ferndale just missed with a decrease of 81.
The county health department releases weekly data on the location of COVID-19 cases using school districts as geographical boundaries, including each region’s number of total cases during the pandemic and their infection rates. Data in Tuesday’s report was through Saturday, Jan. 30, and the infection rates reflect cases between Jan. 17 and 30.
All seven regions have had infection rates higher than 100 since the Dec. 8 report, and only Mount Baker was below 200 this week.
Overall, the county saw a 7.0% growth in cases (359 cases) since the last data release on Jan. 26 — a decrease from the 12.3% growth and 565 new cases seen the previous week, according to the county’s data.
With 924 cases the past two weeks, according to the report, Whatcom County overall has an infection rate of 410.7, based on 225,000 residents in the county. Three 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 5.4% (105 cases) since the Jan. 26 report to 2,055 total cases but the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 247 to 222.
Blaine: Up 10.4% (31 cases) since the Jan. 26 report to 330 total cases but the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 381 to 324.
Ferndale: Up 9.1% (88 cases) since the Jan. 26 report to 1,060 total cases but the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 547 to 466.
Lynden: Up 7.6% (65 cases) since the Jan. 26 report to 917 total cases but the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 1,245 to 805.
Meridian: Up 6.1% (18 cases) since the Jan. 26 report to 311 total cases but the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 427 to 325.
Mount Baker: Up 5.8% (17 cases) since the Jan. 26 report to 308 total cases but the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 399 to 177.
Nooksack Valley: Up 6.9% (35 cases) since the Jan. 26 report to 541 total cases but the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased 1,111 to 632.
This story was originally published February 3, 2021 at 12:00 PM.
