Whatcom sees 2 more COVID-related deaths, 29 new confirmed cases, state reports Tuesday
Two more Whatcom County residents who tested positive for coronavirus have died, the Washington State Department of Health’s dashboard reported on Tuesday, Feb. 17, and 29 new confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported in the county over the holiday weekend.
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 6,167 confirmed cases and 80 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Monday, Feb. 15, meaning 1.3% of all COVID cases in Whatcom County have been linked to a death.
Ninety-eight additional probable cases — an increase of 11 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 two COVID-related deaths reported Tuesday bring Whatcom’s total to 16 reported so far in February, including 11 in the past seven days.
According to the state’s epidemiologic curves, the people whose deaths were reported Tuesday first tested positive for COVID-19 on Feb. 2 and 3. No other information, such as genders, ages or hometowns was reported.
The 29 new cases reported Tuesday mean Whatcom County has had 2,698 cases — or 43.7% of its pandemic total — reported so far in 2021. But the county’s daily average of new reported cases dropped to 18.1 — its lowest mark since Nov. 12, when it was averaging 15.1.
Tuesday’s report represents a three-day total, as the state no longer reports data on Sundays and data was not reported on President’s Day.
The state Department of Health data Tuesday showed Whatcom County has had 298 hospitalizations during the pandemic, an increase of one from Saturday’s report.
The state also reported that a total of 167,777 molecular tests have been administered in Whatcom County during the pandemic — an increase of 3,426 tests from Saturday’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.
With no data release on President’s Day, the state has not updated its vaccination data since Friday, Feb. 12. Updates usually occur on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham, which is licensed and staffed for 241 beds, reported to The Herald on Wednesday it was treating 13 patients for COVID-19, up one from Tuesday’s report and four from Saturday. St. Joseph continues to ban 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 21,140 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 Lummi Tribal Health Center reported in a Facebook post Saturday that it had nine new confirmed cases, bringing the total number of cases in the Lummi community during the pandemic to 399. The Lummi health department reported it has 63 active cases and no current hospitalizations. During the pandemic, 12 community members have been hospitalized, three have died and the health center has conducted 4,399 tests. Positive tests for the last two weeks are at 22.03%. The Lummi Indian Business Council’s Phase 1 Shelter in Place Order is in place until Feb. 23.
Weekly case watch
The number of reported COVID-19 cases in the county last week was the lowest the county has seen so far in 2021.
The Washington State Department of Health reported 254 new cases last week in Whatcom County between Feb. 7 and 13, as the county’s pandemic total climbed from 5,884 to 6,138 (a 4.3% growth).
It was the smallest weekly increase Whatcom has seen since the week of Dec. 27 to Jan. 2, when only four days’ worth of data due to the holiday and state data processing issues resulted in 167 reported cases.
The 254 cases were 30.2% fewer than the 364 cases reported a week earlier, but last week’s total still marked the 14th straight week Whatcom has surpassed 100 cases in a week and the 15th week during the pandemic that the county’s case total has reached triple figures in a week.
The state reported a total of 7,211 molecular tests between Feb. 7 and 13, meaning Whatcom’s estimated test positivity was 3.52% last week — an improvement from the 4.19% of the week before.
Whatcom’s risk assessment
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard was last updated Tuesday evening for data as of 11:59 p.m. Monday, Feb. 15. 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. 24-Feb. 6 with a rate of 332.9 — a decrease from 353.8 reported Friday. Whatcom County has the ninth-highest infection rate in the state according to Tuesday’s data.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 molecular testing rate per 100,000 people Jan. 23-29 of 392.8. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 282.8, and Whatcom’s average was a decrease from the 428.0 reported Friday.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2.0% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 Jan. 23-29 with a rate of 5.9% — an increase from the 5.8% reported Friday and the 14th-lowest rate in the state.
The latest Healthcare System Readiness risk assessment dashboard, updated Tuesday evening for data through Monday, shows for the North region, which combines Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, San Juan and Island counties:
▪ Occupied beds: 982 of the region’s 1,228 adult hospital beds (80.0%) were occupied, making the state’s goal of 80% or less and a decrease of 35 occupied beds from data Friday.
▪ COVID occupied beds: 63 of the region’s 1,228 adult hospital beds (5.1%) were occupied by COVID patients, making the state’s goal of 10% or less and an increase of seven occupied beds from data Friday.
▪ Occupied ICU beds: 85 of the region’s 132 adult ICU beds (64.4%) were occupied. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was a decrease of five beds being used from data Friday.
▪ COVID occupied ICU beds: 21 of the region’s 132 adult ICU beds (15.9%) were occupied by COVID patients. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was an increase of one bed being used from data Friday.
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Tuesday evening:
▪ The U.S. has more than 27.7 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and more than 488,000 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 109.6 million reported cases and 2.4 million deaths.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Tuesday evening:
▪ 312,828 confirmed cases, an increase of 1,540 from reported cases on Saturday.
▪ 16,918 probable cases, an increase of 159 from Saturday’s data.
▪ 18,764 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 121 from data Saturday.
▪ 4,967,466 total molecular tests, an increase of 71,312 from Saturday’s data.
▪ 4,709 deaths related to COVID-19 were reported, an increase of 34 from Friday’s data. That means 1.4% of all Washington residents who have tested positive for coronavirus have died. Deaths are not reported on the weekends.
▪ 1,057,844 vaccinations had been given through Wednesday, an increase of 70,162.
▪ 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.
▪ 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 Feb. 11, 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. All eight regions have now moved to Phase 2, allowing for live entertainment with ticketed groups of up to 10 people and very limited fitness activities such as appointment-based training in gyms.
Phase 2 also 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.
New metrics for Phase 3 and what activities will be allowed in that phase have not yet been released by Inslee.
This story was originally published February 17, 2021 at 8:00 AM.
