Whatcom sees 42 new confirmed COVID cases Monday, as vaccination rate begins to pick up
Forty-two new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Whatcom County were reported on the Washington State Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard on Monday, March 1, but no related deaths were reported.
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 6,646 confirmed cases and 83 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 28, meaning 1.2% of all COVID cases in Whatcom County have been linked to a death.
An additional 148 probable cases — an increase of three 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 42 new cases reported Monday mean Whatcom County has had 3,177 cases — or 47.8% of its pandemic total — reported during the first 60 days of 2021 (an average of 53.0 cases per day). The county’s daily average of newly reported cases the past week decreased to 30.3 per day.
The state Department of Health data Monday showed Whatcom County has had 312 hospitalizations during the pandemic, which is unchanged from Saturday’s report.
The state also reported that a total of 177,842 molecular tests have been administered in Whatcom County during the pandemic — an increase of 2,661 tests from Saturday’s report — meaning 3.74% of all reported tests in the county 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 Tuesday it was treating nine patients for COVID-19, an increase of one from Monday’s report. On Feb. 19 the hospital began allowing non-COVID patients to have one designated visitor during their stay (two for minor and end-of-life patients).
The Lummi Tribal Health Center reported in a Facebook post Monday that it had three new confirmed cases, bringing the total number of cases in the Lummi community during the pandemic to 458. The Lummi health department reported it has 17 active cases and no current hospitalizations. During the pandemic, 12 community members have been hospitalized, three have died and the health center has conducted 4,632 tests. Positive tests for the last two weeks are at 19.01%. The Lummi Indian Business Council’s Phase 1 Shelter in Place Order is in place until March 9.
Vaccination report
Monday’s vaccination report said that as of 11:59 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27, Whatcom County had administered 36,700 vaccinations — an increase of 4,413 vaccinations (an increase of 12.02%) from Friday’s report. An average of 552 Whatcom County residents per day received a vaccination dose from Feb. 21-27, up from the 501 seven-day average on Friday. Vaccination data is released Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The state estimates that 13.75% of the county (or 30,969 residents) has received its first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 7.14% of the county (or 16,083 residents) is 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.
In fact, Whatcom County residents are having to travel outside the county to receive the vaccine at a higher rate than most of the rest of the state, according to data analysis by The Bellingham Herald, as the total number of vaccine doses received by Whatcom County residents (47,052 combined first and second doses received) is 22.0% higher (10,352 doses) than the 36,700 doses administered in the county. The only counties with higher rates are Douglas, which is next to a state mass vaccination site in Wenatchee; Franklin, which is next to a state mass vaccination site in Kennewick; and Clark, which has a state mass vaccination site in Ridgefield.
According to an analysis of Monday’s data by The Herald, Whatcom residents have received approximately 2.81% of the 1,676,787 total vaccine doses given in the state — up from 2.78% in Friday’s report. But the county has administered only 2.19% of the state’s total — up from 2.15% in Friday’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.
Based on 2019 five-year population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, The Herald’s analysis of Friday’s data found Whatcom County has administered 0.17 doses of vaccine per resident, which ranks 31st in the state. With residents traveling to get the vaccine, Whatcom County has received 0.21 doses of vaccine per resident, which ranks 25th in the state. Both are behind the overall state average of 0.23 doses per resident.
Monthly update
Whatcom County had more COVID-related deaths reported during February than it has seen since the second month of the pandemic back in April, when 21 were reported.
Nineteen COVID-related deaths were reported during February — a byproduct of January’s record case numbers. Of the 19 reported, only three of the deceased — one on Feb. 1 and two on Feb. 2, including the death that was reported Friday — first tested positive for COVID-19 in February, according to the state’s epidemiological curves. The rest were from late December or January, when case numbers climbed dramatically in a post-holiday surge.
Whatcom’s number of cases in February was nearly half the record 2,051 reported in January, as 1,084 were reported last month. That averaged out to 38.7 cases per day. Though that was a significant improvement over the 66.16 per day average in January, it was still the second-highest average the county has seen during the pandemic.
February’s total of 1,084 cases marked the third straight month Whatcom has surpassed 1,000 reported cases in a month.
Weekly case watch
The Washington State Department of Health reported 264 new cases last week in Whatcom County between Feb. 21 and 27, as the county’s pandemic total climbed from 6,340 to 6604 (a 4.16% growth).
After seeing the number of reported cases decrease the previous two weeks, the 264 cases represented a 30.7% growth over the 202 cases reported a week earlier, and it marked the 16th straight week Whatcom has surpassed 100 cases in a week and the 17th week during the pandemic that the county’s case total has reached triple figures in a week.
The state reported a total of 4,667 molecular tests between Feb. 21 and 27, meaning Whatcom’s estimated test positivity was 4.16% last week — up from the 3.29% of the week before.
Whatcom’s risk assessment
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard was last updated Monday evening for data as of 11:59 p.m. Sunday. 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 Feb. 6-19 with a rate of 235.2 — a decrease from 241.0 reported Friday. Whatcom County has the ninth-highest infection rate in the state according to Monday’s data.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 molecular testing rate per 100,000 people Feb. 5-11 of 328.5. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 255.7, and Whatcom’s average was a decrease from the 352.2 reported Friday.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2.0% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 Feb. 5-11 with a rate of 4.9% — a decrease from the 5.3% reported Friday and the 21st-highest rate in the state.
The latest Healthcare System Readiness risk assessment dashboard, updated Monday evening for data through Sunday, shows for the North region, which combines Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, San Juan and Island counties:
▪ Occupied beds: 1,005 of the region’s 1,238 adult hospital beds (81.2%) were occupied, missing the state’s goal of 80% or less but a decrease of 20 occupied beds from data Friday.
▪ COVID occupied beds: 39 of the region’s 1,238 adult hospital beds (3.2%) were occupied by COVID patients, making the state’s goal of 10% or less and a decrease of four occupied beds from data Friday.
▪ Occupied ICU beds: 95 of the region’s 138 adult ICU beds (68.8%) were occupied. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it’s an increase of two beds in use from data Friday.
▪ COVID occupied ICU beds: 20 of the region’s 138 adult ICU beds (14.5%) were occupied by COVID patients. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was an increase of three occupied beds from data Friday.
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Tuesday morning:
▪ The U.S. has more than 28.6 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and more than 514,000 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 114.5 million reported cases and 2.5 million deaths.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Monday afternoon:
▪ 321, 881 confirmed cases, an increase of 802 from reported cases on Saturday.
▪ 18,827 probable cases, an increase of 133 from Saturday’s data.
▪ 19,372 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 53 from data Saturday.
▪ 5,280,330 total molecular tests, an increase of 45,898 from Saturday’s data.
▪ 4,969 deaths related to COVID-19 were reported, an increase of 13 from Friday. That means 1.5% 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:
▪ 1,676,787 vaccinations had been given as of Sunday, Feb. 27, according to the report, an increase of 176,302 from the previous report.
▪ The state has averaged administering 37,481 doses of vaccines the past seven days — more than 80% of the Department of Health’s stated daily goal of 45,000, and an increase from the average 26,982 reported Friday.
▪ The state estimated that 14.32% of the state’s residents have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 7.81% percent of residents are fully vaccinated.
▪ 1,917,810 doses have been delivered to Washington state providers (an increase of 218,760 from Friday’s report) and 179,010 doses have been delivered for the CDC’s long-term care program (a decrease of 1,170 from Friday’s report).
▪ Of the 2,096,820 doses delivered, 79.97% have been given, according to Monday’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.
All regions began in Phase 1 on Jan. 11, and the North region, which includes Whatcom, Island, San Juan and Skagit counties moved to Phase 2 Feb. 14, along with the East, North Central, Northwest and Southwest regions. On Thursday, Inslee said the state would stay in Phase 2, with no areas slipping back to Phase 1. But new metrics for Phase 3 and what activities will be allowed in that phase have not yet been released by Inslee.
On Wednesday, Feb. 24, Inslee paused all movement in the Roadmap to Recovery, and all regions will remain in Phase 2 for the time being. Phase change metrics will not be updated for the time being.
Phase 2 allows 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.
This story was originally published March 2, 2021 at 8:44 AM.
