Whatcom County sees 13 new COVID-19 cases Saturday as 10,286 fully vaccinated

Whatcom County saw 13 new COVID-19 cases, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard on Saturday, Feb. 20. Deaths are not reported on the weekends.

Overall, Whatcom County has seen 6,340 confirmed cases and 81 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19, meaning 1.3% of all COVID cases in Whatcom County have been linked to a death.

An additional 116 probable cases — an increase of four 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 state said Saturday’s case count may include up to 700 duplicates statewide.

The state Department of Health data Saturday showed Whatcom County has had 306 hospitalizations during the pandemic, an increase of three from Friday’s report.

The state also reported that a total of 170,514 molecular tests have been administered in Whatcom County during the pandemic — an increase of 904 tests from Friday’s report — meaning 3.71% of all reported tests during the pandemic have come back positive. The state cautioned that negative test results from Nov. 21-30 remain incomplete.

St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham, which is licensed and staffed for 241 beds, reported to The Herald on Saturday it was treating 9 patients for COVID-19, down two from Friday’s report. On Friday the hospital began allowing non-COVID patients to have one designated visitor during their stay (two for minor and end-of-life patients).

Western Washington University’s most recent on-campus student COVID testing data show Saturday that since Sept. 15 WWU has completed 22,204 tests and 74 students have tested positive — an increase of one from Wednesday’s report. The college has seen 36 new cases since the school resumed testing following the winter break after seeing 38 cases during the fall quarter.

Friday’s vaccination report said that as of 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 17, Whatcom County had administered 27,711 vaccinations — an increase of 1,863 vaccinations from Wednesday’s report. The state reports 10,286 people in Whatcom are fully vaccinated and 25,224 have received their first dose.

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.

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. 18. 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. 27-Feb. 9 with a rate of 324.0 — a decrease from 337.3 reported Thursday.

▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 molecular testing rate per 100,000 people Jan. 26-Feb. 1 of 375.0. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 276.2, and Whatcom’s average was a decrease from the 392.4 reported Thursday.

▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2.0% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 Jan. 26-Feb. 1 with a rate of 6.5% — an increase from Thursday’s 6.0%.

The latest Healthcare System Readiness risk assessment dashboard, updated Thursday evening for data through Thursday, shows for the North region, which combines Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, San Juan and Island counties:

▪ Occupied beds: 1,011 of the region’s 1,249 adult hospital beds (80.9%) were occupied, missing the state’s goal of 80% or less but a decrease of 10 occupied beds from data Thursday.

▪ COVID occupied beds: 58 of the region’s 1,249 adult hospital beds (4.6%) were occupied by COVID patients, making the state’s goal of 10% or less but an increase of two occupied beds from data Thursday.

▪ Occupied ICU beds: 88 of the region’s 136 adult ICU beds (64.7%) were occupied. The state does not have a goal for this metric, and there was no change from beds being used from data Thursday.

▪ COVID occupied ICU beds: 19 of the region’s 136 adult ICU beds (14.0%) were occupied by COVID patients. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was a decrease of one bed being used from data Thursday.

Numbers elsewhere

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

▪ The U.S. has more than 28.06 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and more than 497,439 deaths.

▪ Worldwide, there are more than 111.03 million reported cases and 2.45 million deaths.

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

▪ 316,186 confirmed cases, an increase of 767 from reported cases on Friday.

▪ 17,608 probable cases, an increase of 123 from Friday’s data.

▪ 19,033 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 64 from data Friday.

▪ 5,074,078 total molecular tests, an increase of 26,024 from Friday’s data.

▪ 4,822 deaths related to COVID-19 were reported. 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:

▪ 1,270,425 vaccinations had been given according to Friday’s report, an increase of 69,305.

▪ The state has averaged administering 25,611 doses of vaccines the past seven days — more than half of the Department of Health’s stated daily goal of 45,000, and a decrease from the average 26,204 reported Wednesday.

▪ The state’s Friday report estimated that 12.18% of the state’s residents have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 4.58% percent of residents are fully vaccinated.

▪ Approximately 1,341,400 doses have been delivered to Washington state providers (an increase of 46,900 from Wednesday’s report) and 158,925 doses have been delivered for the CDC’s long-term care program (unchanged from Wednesday’s report).

▪ Of the approximately 1,500,325 doses delivered, 84.68% have been given., according to Friday’s report.

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.