Whatcom County sees another COVID-related death and 48 new cases, state reports Friday
One more Whatcom County residents who tested positive for COVID-19 has died and the number of confirmed cases in the county climbed by 48, the Washington State Department of Health’s dashboard reported on Friday, Feb. 5.
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 5,857 confirmed cases and 69 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 4, meaning 1.2% of all COVID cases in Whatcom County have been linked to a death.
Sixty-one additional probable cases — an increase of 14 from Thursday report — have been reported in Whatcom County during the pandemic, resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
The COVID-related death reported Friday is Whatcom’s 14th reported so far in 2021, as 10 have been reported in the past 11 days.
According to the state’s epidemiologic curves, the person whose death was reported Friday first tested positive for COVID-19 on Jan. 11 — the fourth Whatcom resident to test positive on that date and later die. No other information, such as gender, age or hometown, were reported.
The 48 new cases reported Friday mean Whatcom County has had 2,388 cases — or 40.7% of its pandemic total — reported in 2021, and it has averaged 54.7 reported cases per day the past week.
The state cautioned that Friday data may include up to 650 duplicate cases statewide.
The state Department of Health data Friday also showed Whatcom County has had 294 hospitalizations during the pandemic, an increase of five from Thursday’s report.
The state reported that a total of 156,256 molecular tests have been administered in Whatcom County during the pandemic — an increase of 1,116 tests from Thursday’s report — meaning 3.7% of all reported tests during the pandemic have come back positive. The state cautioned that negative test results from Nov. 21-30 are incomplete.
Friday’s vaccination report said that as of 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 3, Whatcom County had administered 17,066 vaccinations — an increase of 706 vaccinations from Wednesday’s report, which was through 11:59 p.m. Monday, Feb. 3. An average of 377.0 Whatcom County residents per day received a vaccination dose from Jan. 28-Feb. 3, down from the 520.0 seven-day average on Wednesday. Vaccination data is released Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The state estimates that 7.94% of the county (or approximately 17,889 residents) have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 1.88% of the county (or approximately 4,236 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 Friday, Whatcom residents have received approximately 2.0% of the 833,935 total vaccine doses administered in the state — down from 2.1% in Wednesday’s report — and has administered the 11th-most doses in the state. For comparison, Whatcom County represents 3.0% of the state’s total population and is the state’s ninth-largest county, according to 2019 U.S. Census estimates.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham, which is licensed and staffed for 241 beds, reported to The Herald on Friday it was treating 21 patients for COVID-19, a decrease of three from Thursday’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 Friday that since Sept. 15 WWU has completed 20,030 tests and 73 students have tested positive — an increase of one from Thursday’s report. The college has seen 35 new cases since the school resumed testing following the winter break after seeing 38 cases during the fall quarter.
Whatcom Jail update
No new COVID-19 cases have been reported at either Whatcom County Jail’s downtown facility or its Work Center, Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Deb Slater told The Bellingham Herald in an email Friday.
On Tuesday, Slater reported that three people being booked into the downtown jail had tested positive, but new protocols to test them during booking and then isolate them kept them from exposing the rest of the jail’s population.
The protocol changes were developed in cooperation with the Whatcom County Health Department after a total of 37 people tested positive at the minimum-security Work Center late last month.
Slater reported Friday that 18 people at the Work Center remain in medical isolation or quarantine at the Work Center.
Whatcom’s risk assessment
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard was last updated Friday evening for data as of 11:59 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 4. 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. 13-26 with a rate of 379.1 — a decrease from 397.7 reported Thursday. Whatcom County has the 11th-highest infection rate in the state, according to Friday’s data.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 molecular testing rate per 100,000 people Jan. 12-18 of 421.5. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 290.7, and Whatcom’s average was a decrease from the 450.5 reported Thursday.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2.0% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 Jan. 12-18 with a rate of 6.9% — a decrease from the 7.6% reported Thursday and the 11th-lowest in the state.
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: 1,074 of the region’s 1,247 adult hospital beds (86.1%) were occupied, missing the state’s goal of 80% or less and a decrease of six occupied beds from data Thursday.
▪ COVID occupied beds: 84 of the region’s 1,247 adult hospital beds (6.7%) were occupied by COVID patients, making the state’s goal of 10% or less and an increase of two occupied beds from data Thursday.
▪ Occupied ICU beds: 91 of the region’s 137 adult ICU beds (66.4%) were occupied. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was a decrease of six beds being used from data Thursday.
▪ 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 six beds being used from data Thursday.
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Friday evening:
▪ The U.S. has more than 26.7 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and more than 459,000 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 105.3 million reported cases and 2.2 million deaths.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Friday evening:
▪ 303,961 confirmed cases, an increase of 1,179 from reported cases on Thursday.
▪ 15,410 probable cases, an increase of 314 from Thursday’s data.
▪ 18,156 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 85 from data Thursday.
▪ 4,694,650 total molecular tests, an increase of 23,835 from Thursday’s data.
▪ 4,449 deaths related to COVID-19, an increase of 33 deaths from Thursday’s data. That means 1.4% of all Washington residents who have tested positive for coronavirus have died.
According to the state’s latest vaccination report, which is updated Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays:
▪ 833,935 vaccinations had been given through Monday, an increase of 60,589.
▪ The state has averaged administering 26,269 doses of vaccines the past seven days — more than half of the Department of Health’s stated daily goal of 45,000, but a decrease from the average 27,902 reported Wednesday.
▪ The state estimates that 8.87% of the state’s residents have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 2.12% percent of residents are fully vaccinated.
▪ Approximately 1,021,475 doses have been delivered to Washington state providers (a decrease of 6,525 from Wednesday’s report) and 133,575 doses have been delivered for the CDC’s long-term care program (an increase of 975 from Wednesday’s report).
▪ Of the approximately 1,160,600 doses delivered, 72.20% 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 every other 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 the Puget Sound and West Region will move to Phase 2 Monday, 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.
Phase 2 allows restaurants and indoor fitness centers to open indoors at 25% capacity and allows for sports competitions to resume with limited spectators, and wedding, and funeral ceremonies can increase capacities.
Whatcom County is in the North Region, along with Skagit, San Juan and Island counties, and remains in Phase 1.
This story was originally published February 6, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
