Whatcom sees 32 new COVID-19 cases Saturday, state reports

Whatcom County recorded 32 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Saturday, the third straight day with at least 30 new cases, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s dashboard. The state does not report deaths on the weekends.

Overall, Whatcom County has seen 6,138 confirmed cases and 78 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Friday, Feb. 12, meaning 1.3% of all COVID cases in Whatcom County have been linked to a death.

Eighty-seven additional probable cases — a decrease of one from Friday’s report — have been reported in Whatcom County during the pandemic, resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.

The two 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 32 new cases reported Saturday mean Whatcom County has had 2,666 cases — or 43.4% of its pandemic total — reported so far in 2021.

The state cautioned that Saturday’s case counts may include up to 330 duplicates statewide.

The state Department of Health data Saturday showed Whatcom County has had 297 hospitalizations during the pandemic, an increase of two from Friday’s report.

The state also reported that a total of 164,351 molecular tests have been administered in Whatcom County during the pandemic — an increase of 859 tests from Friday’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 Saturday it was treating nine patients for COVID-19, up one from Friday’s report, which was the first time the hospital had single-digit COVID-related patient numbers since Dec. 23, when it also had a count of eight. St. Joseph continues to ban visitors at the medical center until further notice while COVID-19 remains a public health threat.

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.

Numbers elsewhere

New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Saturday evening:

▪ The U.S. has more than 27.56 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and more than 483,926 deaths.

▪ Worldwide, there are more than 108.49 million reported cases and 2.39 million deaths.

Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Saturday afternoon:

▪ 311,288 confirmed cases, an increase of 747 from reported cases on Friday.

▪ 16,759 probable cases, an increase of 133 from Friday’s data.

▪ 18,643 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 39 from data Friday.

▪ 4,896,154 total molecular tests, an increase of 29,161 from Friday’s data.

▪ 4,675 deaths related to COVID-19 were reported Friday. That means 1.4% of all Washington residents who have tested positive for coronavirus have died. Deaths are not reported on the weekends.

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 Sunday, 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 14, 2021 at 8:00 AM.