Whatcom sees COVID deaths for the fourth straight day, 38 new cases Friday, state reports
For the fourth straight day, Whatcom County’s COVID-19 death total increased, as the Washington State Department of Health’s dashboard reported Friday, Feb. 12, that two more residents’ deaths are believed to be related to coronavirus. The state also reported 38 new confirmed cases Friday.
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 6,106 confirmed cases and 78 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 11, meaning 1.3% of all COVID cases in Whatcom County have been linked to a death.
Eighty-eight additional probable cases — an increase of eight from Thursday’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 Friday bring Whatcom’s total to 14 reported so far in February, including nine in the past four days, though only one of those people actually first tested positive for COVID-19 in February.
According to the state’s epidemiologic curves, the people whose deaths were reported Friday first tested positive for COVID-19 on Jan. 5 and 9. No other information, such as genders, ages or hometowns was reported.
The 38 new cases reported Friday mean Whatcom County has had 2,637 cases — or 43.2% of its pandemic total — reported so far in 2021. But, thanks in part to the two case total decreases reported Tuesday and Wednesday, Whatcom’s weekly average of reported cases dropped to 35.6 — its lowest mark since Jan. 2.
The state cautioned that Friday’s case counts may include up to 200 duplicates statewide.
The state Department of Health data Friday showed Whatcom County has had 295 hospitalizations during the pandemic, a decrease of one from Thursday’s report.
The state also reported that a total of 163,492 molecular tests have been administered in Whatcom County during the pandemic — an increase of 381 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 remain incomplete.
Friday’s vaccination report said that as of 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 10, Whatcom County had administered 21,484 vaccinations — an increase of 2,593 vaccinations from Wednesday’s report, which was through 11:59 p.m. Monday, Feb. 8. An average of 512 Whatcom County residents per day received a vaccination dose from Feb. 4-10, up from the 320 seven-day average on Wednesday. Vaccination data is released Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The state estimates that 9.43% of the county (or 21,252 residents) have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 2.93% of the county (or 6,611 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 1,057,844 total vaccine doses administered in the state — up from 1.9% in Wednesday’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 Friday it was treating eight patients for COVID-19, down four from Thursday’s report. It is the first time the hospital has had single-digit COVID-related patient numbers since Dec. 23, when it also had a count of eight.
Western Washington University’s most recent on-campus student COVID testing data show Friday that since Sept. 15 WWU has completed 21,126 tests and 73 students have tested positive — unchanged 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.
The Nooksack Indian Tribe announced in a Facebook post Friday that it has seen one more confirmed cases within its community, bringing the pandemic total to 598. Ten 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 2,778 tests during the pandemic, with results for seven 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.
Hospital visitor update
Though the case numbers in the community have dropped folllowing Whatcom’s post-holiday surge and St. Joseph hospital is reporting fewer COVID-related patients, the hospital’s ban of visitors remains in effect.
Visitors will continue to be restricted until the officials are confident that the community is experiencing a decline in COVID cases, hospital spokesperson Bev Mayhew told The Bellingham Herald in an email, adding that the restrictions are following U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
The exceptions to the restrictions are associated with end-of-life patients, children, labor and delivery patients and those with physical or cognitive impairments that require assistance. Those patients are allowed one visitor who has not tested positive for COVID and isn’t a suspected exposure.
“We all look forward to the day when we can relax these restrictions as we appreciate the importance of friends and family to support patients in their healing journey,” Mayhew wrote.
Point Roberts update
Point Roberts, the enclave portion of Whatcom County isolated from the mainland on the Tsawwassen Peninsula west of Blaine, has seen its first COVID-19 case of the pandemic, according to a story by CTV News. The Whatcom County Health Department confirmed the case to CTV, according to the story.
With the U.S.-Canada border closed to non-essential travel in an effort by the two countries to slow the spread of COVID-19, Point Roberts has experienced great economic and social hardships, as there is no way to get to the mainland with out twice crossing the border or taking a boat.
Residents have asked for the border closure to be relaxed for them, and several Washington state legislators have joined their cause, but those efforts have not had helped to this point. Part of residents’ case for an exemption was that no COVID cases had been seen in community, but Thursday’s news changes that.
Residents have even asked to move forward in line for vaccinations in hopes it will help them get some relief and allow them to cross the border.
School outbreak update
Through the end of 2020, no Whatcom County schools (K-12) saw a COVID-19 outbreak after they began reopening for in-person learning, a report from the Washington State Department of Health released Thursday says.
An outbreak is considered two or more laboratory confirmed COVID-19 cases among those that are epidemiologically linked. The cases must be from separate households and must not be identified as close contacts from another setting.
Statewide, according to the report, there have been 84 outbreaks involving 305 cases between Aug. 1 and Dec. 31. Those 84 outbreaks occurred in 13 counties, but Whatcom was not one of them. Skagit County had one outbreak that involved two cases, while Snohomish County had 12 outbreaks that totaled 53 cases.
Spokane County led the state with 33 outbreaks and 151 cases, according to the report.
Statewide, 69% of the outbreaks were in public schools, according to the report, which also found that 12% of the outbreaks were in in-person modalities, 22% in hybrid, 6% in remote, 12% in remote with exceptions (including in-person learning for students with special learning needs) and 48% in other or unknown modalities.
None of the cases involved with school outbreaks have results in hospitalization or death, the report states.
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. 11. 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. 20-Feb. 2 with a rate of 353.8 — an increase from 329.3 reported Thursday.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 molecular testing rate per 100,000 people Jan. 19-25 of 428.0. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 295.8, and Whatcom’s average was an increase from the 399.2 reported Thursday.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2.0% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 Jan. 19-25 with a rate of 5.8% — an increase from the 5.6% reported Thursday.
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: 1,017 of the region’s 1,237 adult hospital beds (82.2%) were occupied, missing the state’s goal of 80% or less and an increase of 11 occupied beds from data Thursday.
▪ COVID occupied beds: 56 of the region’s 1,237 adult hospital beds (4.5%) were occupied by COVID patients, making the state’s goal of 10% or less and a decrease of one occupied bed from data Thursday.
▪ Occupied ICU beds: 90 of the region’s 136 adult ICU beds (66.2%) were occupied. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was a decrease of two beds being used from data Thursday.
▪ COVID occupied ICU beds: 20 of the region’s 136 adult ICU beds (14.7%) were occupied by COVID patients. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was an increase of four beds being used from data Thursday.
Vaccine distribution assistance
Washington Albertsons stores, which include Safeway, Albertsons and Haggen, on Thursday began delivering COVID vaccinations to communities in partnership with the CDC, according to an Albertsons news release.
In Bellingham, specifically, Safeway will work with the Whatcom County Senior Center, the release states, adding that statewide its also working with the Public School Employees of Washington and Washington Food Industry Association.
“We are honored to be selected as part of the CDC’s Federal Retail Pharmacy Partnership Program,” Director of Pharmacy Operations at Safeway David Green said in the release. “We recognize the importance of this program and the responsibility that has been entrusted to us. Our approach as a company is to serve every neighborhood, so that healthy food and pharmacy services are available to all. For the vaccine rollout, we will continue to trust our community-based approach and make sure our in-store pharmacies are able to serve all of their neighbors.”
On Thursday, the 177 Safeway, Albertsons and Haggen community pharmacies began delivering vaccinations by appointment for those who are eligible to receive it, the release states. Appointments for those who are eligible can be made at mhealthappointments.com/covidappt and cannot be made over the phone.
More information is available at Albertsonscompanies.com.
COVID reduces tax options
The COVID-19 pandemic has reduced the number of free tax preparation options for older and low-income taxpayers.
Carlton Nathon, the district coordinator for the AARP Foundation Tax-Aide program, said about 2,000 people a year use the AARP services that won’t be possible in Whatcom County this year.
“Neither of our physical sites are willing to oblige and my volunteers (most of whom are also seniors) are not interested in any in-person contact until herd immunity. So, unfortunately, we are not providing any in-person or drop-off services in Whatcom County,” Nathon wrote in an email to The Bellingham Herald.
An AARP drop-off service is being offered in Skagit County by appointment only. Volunteers have clients on-site fill out a questionnaire and then scan all of their tax documents. The client picks up the completed return in several days.
The East County Resource Center in Concrete will offer appointments Thursday, Feb. 18, to April 8. Appointments for taxpayers living in Washington can be requested by calling 888-687-2277 and leaving a voicemail. A volunteer will call back to set up an appointment.
There are virtual options with and without volunteer aid for those able to access the internet available on the Whatcom Asset Building Coalition website at whatcomabc.org.
The website offers information about Western Washington University and Northwest Indian College drop-off locations for VITA Tax Sites, which provide free basic income tax return preparation with electronic filing to households making less than $66,000 a year.
—Julie Shirley, jshirley@bhamherald.com
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Friday evening:
▪ The U.S. has more than 27.48 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and more than 480,748 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 108.15 million reported cases and 2.38 million deaths.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Friday evening:
▪ 310,541 confirmed cases, an increase of 868 from reported cases on Thursday.
▪ 16,626 probable cases, an increase of 140 from Thursday’s data.
▪ 18,604 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 73 from data Thursday.
▪ 4,866,993 total molecular tests, an increase of 26,917 from Thursday’s data.
▪ 4,675 deaths related to COVID-19, an increase of 42 from data reported Thursday. 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:
▪ 1,057,844 vaccinations had been given through Wednesday, an increase of 70,162.
▪ The state has averaged administering 26,761 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 increase from the average 26,479 reported Wednesday.
▪ The state estimated Friday that 10.70% of the state’s residents have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 3.25% percent of residents are fully vaccinated.
▪ Approximately 1,276,950 doses have been delivered to Washington state providers (an increase of 53,5750 from Wednesday’s report) and 152,100 doses have been delivered for the CDC’s long-term care program (an increase of 10,725 from Wednesday’s report).
▪ Of the approximately 1,276,950 doses delivered, 74.02% 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 moved to Phase 2 on Feb. 1.
On Thursday Inslee announced the North region, which includes Whatcom, Island, San Juan and Skagit counties will move Feb. 14 to Phase 2 along with the East, North Central, Northwest and Southwest regions. 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.
This story was originally published February 13, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
