For second straight day, Whatcom sees three COVID-related deaths and a decrease in cases
For the second straight day, Whatcom County had three deaths related to COVID-19 reported by the Washington State Department of Health’s dashboard on Wednesday, Feb. 10. But for the second straight day, Whatcom’s pandemic total of confirmed coronavirus cases decreased — this time by 37 cases.
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 6,003 confirmed cases and 75 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9, meaning 1.2% of all COVID cases in Whatcom County have been linked to a death.
Seventy-six additional probable cases — an increase of six from Tuesday’s report — have been reported in Whatcom County during the pandemic, resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
The COVID-related deaths reported Wednesday’s bring Whatcom’s total to 20 reported so far in 2021.
According to the state’s epidemiologic curves, the people whose deaths were reported Wednesday first tested positive for COVID-19 on Jan. 18, Jan. 26 and Jan. 28. No other information, such as genders, ages or hometowns, were reported.
The state gave no reason as to why Whatcom’s total number of cases decreased by 37 on Wednesday — just as there was no explanation for why it decreased by four on Tuesday — but the state did warn that there were up to 1,200 duplicate cases statewide reported Monday and 1,100 on Tuesday, and adjustments of data by the state have been common throughout the pandemic.
With the decreases, Whatcom’s seven-day average of reported cases dropped to 38.3 — the first time it’s been below 40 since Jan. 2, when Whatcom had a weekly average of 23.9.
The state Department of Health data Wednesday showed Whatcom County has had 294 hospitalizations during the pandemic, a decrease of 10 from Tuesday’s report. Statewide hospitalizations dropped by 14 Wednesday, the state reported, due to “preliminary data from automated sources that are prone to data processing issues.”
The state also reported that a total of 162,01 molecular tests have been administered in Whatcom County during the pandemic — an increase of 935 tests from Tuesday’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 remain incomplete.
Wednesday’s vaccination report said that as of 11:59 p.m. Monday, Feb. 8, Whatcom County had administered 18,891 vaccinations — an increase of 441 vaccinations from Monday’s report, which was through 11:59 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 6. An average of 320.3 Whatcom County residents per day received a vaccination dose from Feb. 2-8, down from the 340.0 seven-day average on Monday. Vaccination data is released Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The state estimates that 8.74% of the county (or approximately 19,691 residents) have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 2.26% of the county (or approximately 5,092 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 1.9% of the 987,682 total vaccine doses administered in the state — down from 2.0% in Monday’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.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham, which is licensed and staffed for 241 beds, reported to The Herald on Thursday it was treating 12 patients for COVID-19, unchanged 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 Wednesday that since Sept. 15 WWU has completed 20,602 tests and 73 students have tested positive — unchanged from Tuesday’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 Wednesday that it has seen two more confirmed cases within its community, bringing the pandemic total to 55. Six cases are active, one case is listed as unrecovered while 48 have recovered, according to the post. So far, the Nooksack health team has conducted 2,759 tests during the pandemic, with results for eight 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.
Bellingham schools sees cases
Two new COVID-19 incidents were reported by Bellingham Public Schools on its dashboard on Wednesday, including the district’s first incident involving multiple cases and classrooms.
Sunnyland Elementary had two cases reported that forced two classrooms to return to remote learning with an expected return date of Feb. 23. The two cases are believed to be related and connected to the same, non-school exposure setting, district spokesperson Dana Smith told The Bellingham Herald in an email.
Sehome High School also had its first COVID-19 case reported. That case required selected contacts quarantine with an expected return date of Feb. 23.
The district now has had 16 incidents and 17 reported cases since it began returning to in-person learning. Bellingham’s list of schools that have seen COVID cases includes: Birchwood (three cases), Sunnyland (three cases and two incidents), Carl Cozier (two cases), Roosevelt, Geneva, Wade King, Silver Beach, Alderwood and Lowell elementaries, Fairhaven Middle School, Sehome High School and a 17th case at a non-school location.
The district estimates 2,600 students have returned for in-person learning and 900 staff members are working on site.
Vaccination frustration
Whatcom County residents continue to express frustration over being unable to get the COVID-19 vaccine — this time, it was during a telephone town hall with State Rep. Alicia Rule on Tuesday night, Feb. 9.
The Blaine Democrat fielded questions from 42nd Legislative District residents on a range of topics, including vaccine access from callers who wondered why Whatcom wasn’t getting more doses.
Rule promised to continue pushing for more vaccine allocation for Whatcom County, adding that she has written a letter to state officials on topics that include how decisions are made.
“We need a better roadmap to understand how we can access this,” Rule said.
“This is beyond a frustrating situation. Here we have this virus that has overtaken every part of our life” and finally there’s a vaccine, only to see that it’s difficult to access, she added.
She said local providers are ready, the issue is the supply.
Erika Lautenbach, director of the Whatcom County Health Department, echoed Rule’s statements.
“We are ready. We are ramped up. Our providers are ready to go,” Lautenbach said during the town hall.
There are 34 providers in Whatcom County that have received state authorization to vaccinate residents against COVID-19. The issue is supply, officials said.
“It’s hard to be patient. And we recognize that. There will be more vaccine. We know there will be more soon. We’re ready to go. We just need vaccine,” Lautenbach said.
—Kie Relyea, krelyea@bhamherald.com
Long-term care update
Whatcom County had four new COVID-19 cases associated with its long-term care facilities last week, but no related deaths, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s latest COVID-19 Long-Term Care Report.
According to the report, which was released Tuesday, Feb. 9 and reflected data through Monday, Feb. 8, Whatcom County long-term care facilities have had 309 confirmed cases during the pandemic. That marks an increase of four cases since the previous report, which included data through Feb. 1 — a 1.3% growth.
The number of COVID-related deaths in long-term care facilities remained at 40, according to the state’s data.
The 309 cases mean that long-term care facilities had 5.1% of the 6,044 overall cases reported in Whatcom County on Monday — down from 5.4% on Feb. 1 — while the 40 related deaths represent 58.0% of the county’s death total (69) on Monday.
Statewide, long-term care facilities have been associated with 17,767 cases (5.8% of the state’s total cases) and 2,259 related deaths (50.7% of the state’s death total), the report showed. Since Feb. 1, the state’s long-term care facilities saw increases of 1.7% in the number of cases (293 cases) and 3.2% in the number of deaths (69 deaths).
Whatcom’s risk assessment
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard was last updated Wednesday evening for data as of 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9. 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. 18-31 with a rate of 332.4 — a decrease from 348.4 reported Tuesday. Whatcom County has the 11th-highest infection rate in the state — down two spots from Tuesday — according to Tuesday’s data.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 molecular testing rate per 100,000 people Jan. 17-23 of 403.3. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 284.2, and Whatcom’s average was a decrease from the 415.1 reported Tuesday.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2.0% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 Jan. 17-23 with a rate of 5.8% — a decrease from the 6.1% reported Tuesday and the 13th-lowest rate in the state.
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: 1,036 of the region’s 1,235 adult hospital beds (83.9%) were occupied, missing the state’s goal of 80% or less and an increase of 71 occupied beds from data Tuesday.
▪ COVID occupied beds: 68 of the region’s 1,235 adult hospital beds (5.5%) were occupied by COVID patients, making the state’s goal of 10% or less and a decrease of three occupied beds from data Tuesday.
▪ Occupied ICU beds: 101 of the region’s 136 adult ICU beds (74.3%) were occupied. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was an increase of 22 beds being used from data Tuesday.
▪ COVID occupied ICU beds: 29 of the region’s 136 adult ICU beds (21.3%) were occupied by COVID patients. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was an increase of nine beds being used from data Tuesday.
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Thursday morning:
▪ The U.S. has more than 27.2 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and more than 471,000 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 107.4 million reported cases and 2.3 million deaths.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Wednesday afternoon:
▪ 308,392 confirmed cases, an increase of 525 from reported cases on Tuesday.
▪ 16,314 probable cases, an increase of 156 from Tuesday’s data.
▪ 18,516 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, a decrease of 14 from data Tuesday due to “preliminary data from automated sources that are prone to data processing issues,” the state said.
▪ 4,814,665 total molecular tests, an increase of 20,740 from Tuesday’s data.
▪ 4,603 deaths related to COVID-19, an increase of 45 from data reported Tuesday. 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:
▪ 987,682 vaccinations had been given through Tuesday, an increase of 45,516. The state reported that Monday’s data including 13,575 doses that had previously been unreported.
▪ The state has averaged administering 26,479 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 decrease from the average 26,857 reported Monday.
▪ The state estimates that 10.18% of the state’s residents have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 2.84% percent of residents are fully vaccinated.
▪ Approximately 1,223,375 doses have been delivered to Washington state providers (an increase of 166,800 from Monday’s report) and 141,375 doses have been delivered for the CDC’s long-term care program (an increase of 2,925 from Monday’s report).
▪ Of the approximately 1,364,750 doses delivered, 72.37% 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 11, 2021 at 8:56 AM.
