Whatcom County surpasses 6,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases with 160 reported Monday
Whatcom County topped 6,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases during the pandemic, as it saw 160 cases reported by the Washington State Department of Health’s dashboard on Monday, Feb. 8.
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 6,044 confirmed cases and 69 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 7, meaning 1.1% of all COVID cases in Whatcom County have been linked to a death.
Seventy-two additional probable cases — an increase of 13 from Saturday’s report — have been reported in Whatcom County during the pandemic, resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
The 160 new cases reported Monday mean Whatcom County has had 2,575 cases — or 42.6% of its pandemic total — reported so far in 2021, and it has averaged 62.0 reported cases per day the past week.
It is the 10th time Whatcom had more than 100 new cases reported in a day — all of which have occurred in 2021. But the 160 cases reported Monday represent two day’s worth of data, as the state no longer releases COVID numbers on Sundays.
The state cautioned that Monday data may include up to 1,200 duplicate cases statewide. The state also said COVID-related deaths were not updated Monday because of another data processing issue.
The state Department of Health data Monday showed Whatcom County has had 301 hospitalizations during the pandemic, an increase of four from Saturday report.
The state also reported that a total of 159,900 molecular tests have been administered in Whatcom County during the pandemic — an increase of 2,760 tests from Saturday’s report — meaning 3.8% of all reported tests during the pandemic have come back positive. The state cautioned that negative test results from Nov. 21-30 remain incomplete.
Monday’s vaccination report said that as of 11:59 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 6, Whatcom County had administered 18,450 vaccinations — an increase of 1,384 vaccinations from Friday’s report, which was through 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 3. An average of 340.0 Whatcom County residents per day received a vaccination dose from Jan. 31-Feb. 6, up from the 337.0 seven-day average on Friday. Vaccination data is released Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The state estimates that 8.55% of the county (or approximately 19,263 residents) have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 2.18% of the county (or approximately 4,912 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 2.0% of the 942,166 total vaccine doses administered in the state — unchanged from Friday’s report — and has administered the 12th-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.
The Lummi Nation reported on Facebook Monday that it has provided nearly 2,000 doses of vaccine. Approximately 87% of those doses have gone to Lummi community members and 13% to Lummi Nation front-line workers, such as healthcare professionals, police, school workers, early learning staff and other people that provide critical services to the community.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham, which is licensed and staffed for 241 beds, reported to The Herald on Tuesday it was treating 16patients for COVID-19, a decrease of two from Monday’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 Monday that since Sept. 15 WWU has completed 20,037 tests and 73 students have tested positive — unchanged from Friday’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.
The Nooksack Indian Tribe announced in a Facebook post Monday that it has seen four more confirmed cases within its community, bringing the pandemic total to 53. Eight cases are active, one case is listed as unrecovered while 43 have recovered, according to the post. So far, the Nooksack health team has conducted 2,750 tests during the pandemic, with results for 39 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 Sunday that it had 14 new confirmed cases, bringing the total number of cases in the Lummi community during the pandemic to 369. The Lummi health department reported it has 92 active cases and one current hospitalization.
Lummi also reported Sunday that a third community member has died after testing positive for COVID-19. During the pandemic, 12 community members have been hospitalized and the health center has conducted 4,239 tests. Positive tests for the last two weeks are at 23.16%. The Lummi Indian Business Council’s Phase 1 Shelter in Place Order is in place until Feb. 23.
Vaccine update
PeaceHealth was notified late last week that it was getting 975 first doses of the Pfizer vaccine this week, PeaceHealth spokesperson Bev Mayhew told The Bellingham Herald on Tuesday, Feb. 9.
It also is getting 500 first doses of the Moderna vaccine this week, Mayhew said.
The state Department of Health allocates doses sent by the federal government.
“The original communications that we received from the state looked as though we would not be getting any new first doses going into this week. Later in the week we learned that in fact, we were allocated first doses to be received this week,” Mayhew said, adding that the state was focused on ensuring that second doses were allocated.
She added: “It is important to note that we must ensure everyone receives their second dose before scheduling primary doses, and all vaccines have been allocated appropriately.”
In a post on Nextdoor, Mayhew said that PeaceHealth is continuing to vaccinate healthcare workers, high-risk patents 65 and older and will begin vaccinating patients 87 and older who have established primary or specialist care with a PeaceHealth providers as either.
There are approximately 1,238 individuals who are 87 and older and who have a PeaceHealth provider, Mayhew reported, and vaccine appointment notices were sent out through the company’s online portal. Staff will follow up with phone calls to those that do not respond.
“All in-hand and currently anticipated doses are allocated, either for first or second doses, but we will continue to expand to age categories within the current eligible population as per the state guidelines (65+) based on vaccine supply,” Mayhew wrote.
—Kie Relyea, krelyea@bhamherald.com
Weekly case watch
The number of reported COVID-19 cases in the county last week increased after the county saw a big drop the week before.
The Washington State Department of Health reported 364 new cases last week in Whatcom County between Jan. 31 and Feb. 6, as the county’s pandemic total climbed from 5,520 to 5,884 (a 6.6% growth).
The 364 cases were 8.9% more than the 334 cases reported a week earlier, and last week’s total still marked the 13th straight week Whatcom has surpassed 100 cases in a week and the 14th week during the pandemic that the county’s case total has reached triple figures in a week.
The state reported a total of 8,689 molecular tests between Jan. 31 and Feb. 7, meaning Whatcom’s estimated test positivity was 4.19% last week — an improvement from the 5.00% of the week before.
Another barrier passed
It took Whatcom County 18 days to move from 5,000 reported confirmed cases to 6,000. Here is a look at how long it took Whatcom County to surpass barriers for total number of reported confirmed cases during the pandemic:
▪ First case: March 10
▪ 1,000th case: Aug. 12 (155 days).
▪ 2,000th case: Nov. 20 (100 days).
▪ 3,000th case: Dec. 17 (27 days).
▪ 4,000th case: Jan. 8 (22 days).
▪ 5,000th case: Jan. 21 (13 days).
▪ 6,000th case: Feb. 8 (18 days).
Bellingham school sees case
Carl Cozier Elementary school saw its second COVID-19 case in two weeks, according to Bellingham Public School’s COVID-19 dashboard on Monday. It was the 14th case the district has seen since in-person learning resumed.
After having a single case reported the week of Feb. 1-5, another case was reported Monday. Like the previous case, the latest required a class return to remote learning until an expected return date of Feb. 16.
Bellingham’s list of schools that have seen a COVID case includes: Birchwood (three cases), Carl Cozier (two cases), Roosevelt, Geneva, Sunnyland, Wade King, Silver Beach, Alderwood and Lowell elementaries, Fairhaven Middle School and a 14th case at a non-school location. None of the district’s 14 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 Monday evening for data as of 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 6. 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. 16-29 with a rate of 354.2 — a decrease from 379.1 reported Friday. Whatcom County has the 11th-highest infection rate in the state, according to Monday’s data.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 molecular testing rate per 100,000 people Jan. 15-21 of 418.6. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 290.0, and Whatcom’s average was a decrease from the 521.5 reported Friday.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2.0% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 Jan. 15-21 with a rate of 6.7% — a decrease from the 6.9% reported Friday and the 16th-lowest in the state.
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: 998 of the region’s 1,258 adult hospital beds (79.3%) were occupied, making the state’s goal of 80% or less and a decrease of 76 occupied beds from data Friday.
▪ COVID occupied beds: 83 of the region’s 1,258 adult hospital beds (6.6%) were occupied by COVID patients, making the state’s goal of 10% or less and a decrease of one occupied bed from data Friday.
▪ Occupied ICU beds: 90 of the region’s 138 adult ICU beds (65.2%) were occupied. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was a decrease of one bed being used from data Friday.
▪ COVID occupied ICU beds: 26 of the region’s 138 adult ICU beds (18.8%) were occupied by COVID patients. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was a decrease of two beds being used from data Friday.
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Tuesday morning:
▪ The U.S. has more than 27.1 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and more than 465,000 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 106.5 million reported cases and 2.3 million deaths.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Monday afternoon:
▪ 307,189 confirmed cases, an increase of 2,807 from reported cases on Saturday.
▪ 16,025 probable cases, an increase of 261 from Saturday’s data.
▪ 18,480 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 197 from data Saturday.
▪ 4,771,837 total molecular tests, an increase of 54,978 from Saturday’s data.
▪ 4,451 deaths related to COVID-19, an increase of two from data reported Friday. That means 1.4% of all Washington residents who have tested positive for coronavirus have died. The state said deaths were not reported Monday due to another data processing issue.
According to the state’s latest vaccination report, which is updated Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays:
▪ 942,166 vaccinations had been given through Saturday, an increase of 108,231.
▪ The state has averaged administering 26,857 doses of vaccines the past seven days — more than half of the Department of Health’s stated daily goal of 45,000, and a slight from the average 26,269 reported Friday.
▪ The state estimates that 9.82% of the state’s residents have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 2.59% percent of residents are fully vaccinated.
▪ Approximately 1,056,575 doses have been delivered to Washington state providers (an increase of 35,100 from Friday’s report) and 138,450 doses have been delivered for the CDC’s long-term care program (an increase of 4,875 from Friday’s report).
▪ Of the approximately 1,195,025 doses delivered, 78.84% 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 9, 2021 at 8:25 AM.
