As state surpasses 5,000 deaths, Whatcom sees 1 death and 35 new COVID cases Wednesday
Whatcom County saw another COVID-related death on the same day the state surpassed 5,000 deaths during the pandemic, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard on Wednesday, March 3. Whatcom also had 35 new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported Wednesday.
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 6,701 confirmed cases and 84 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, March 2, meaning 1.2% of all COVID cases in Whatcom County have been linked to a death.
An additional 154 probable cases — an increase of four from Tuesday’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 death reported Wednesday is the 29th reported in the county since the first of the year, though six of those 29 people who died first tested positive for coronavirus in 2020, according to the state’s epidemiologic curves.
The epidemiologic curves were not updated to reflect the death reported Wednesday, and no other information about the person, such as gender, age or hometown was reported.
Statewide, 24 COVID-related deaths were reported Wednesday, pushing the state past 5,000 for the pandemic.
“As we recognize the loss of 5,000 Washingtonians to COVID-19, let us both mourn for the families who have lost loved ones and be thankful for the Washingtonians who have pitched in to prevent further passing,” Gov. Jay Inslee said in a statement. “Each of these 5,000 lives were more than a number to us. Each represents the loss of a unique individual who has left an empty chair in the lives of family, friends, and community.”
The 35 new cases reported Wednesday mean Whatcom County has had 3,232 cases — or 48.2% of its pandemic total — reported during the first 62 days of 2021 (an average of 52.1 cases per day). The county’s daily average of newly reported cases the past week decreased to 28.9 per day.
The state Department of Health data Wednesday showed Whatcom County has had 316 hospitalizations during the pandemic, which is an increase of one from Tuesday’s report.
The state also reported that a total of 182,620 molecular tests have been administered in Whatcom County during the pandemic — an increase of 558 tests from Tuesday’s report — meaning 3.67% 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 Thursday morning, March 4, it was treating six patients for COVID-19, an increase of one from Wednesday’s report.
The Lummi Tribal Health Center reported in a Facebook post Wednesday that it had eight new confirmed cases, bringing the total number of cases in the Lummi community during the pandemic to 470. The Lummi health department reported it has 23 active cases and no current hospitalizations. During the pandemic, 12 community members have been hospitalized, three have died and the health center has conducted 4,700 tests. Positive tests for the last two weeks are at 17.13%. The Lummi Indian Business Council’s Phase 1 Shelter in Place Order is in place until March 9.
Whatcom vaccination report
Wednesday’s vaccination report said that as of 11:59 p.m. Monday, March 1, Whatcom County had administered 37,753 vaccinations — an increase of 1,053 vaccinations (an increase of 2.79%) from Monday’s report. An average of 910 Whatcom County residents per day received a vaccination dose from Feb. 23 to March 1, up from the 552 seven-day average on Monday. Vaccination data is released Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The state estimates that 14.14% of the county (or 31,861 residents) has received its first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 7.34% of the county (or 16,547 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 (48,408 combined first and second doses received) is 22.0% higher (10,655 doses) than the 37,753 doses administered in the county. The only counties with higher rates are Douglas, which is next to a state mass vaccination site in Wenatchee, and Franklin, which is next to a state mass vaccination site in Kennewick.
According to an analysis of Wednesday’s data by The Herald, Whatcom residents have received approximately 2.75% of the 1,760,668 total vaccine doses given in the state — down from 2.81% in Monday’s report. And the county has administered only 2.14% of the state’s total — down from 2.19% in Monday’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 Monday’s data found Whatcom County has administered 0.17 doses of vaccine per resident, which ranks 32nd in the state. With residents traveling to get the vaccine, Whatcom County has received 0.22 doses of vaccine per resident, which ranks 24th in the state. Both per capita averages are behind the overall state average of 0.24 doses per resident.
Long-term care update
Whatcom County had two new COVID-19-related deaths and 22 new cases associated with its long-term care facilities, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s latest COVID-19 Long-Term Care Report.
According to the report, which was released Friday, Feb. 26, and reflected data through Feb. 22, Whatcom County long-term care facilities have had 330 confirmed cases during the pandemic — a 7.1% increase from the 308 in the previous report, which included data through Feb. 16.
The number of COVID-related deaths in long-term care facilities increased to 43 — a 4.9% increase from 41 — according to the state’s data.
The 330 cases mean that long-term care facilities had 5.1% of the 6,434 overall cases reported in Whatcom County on Feb. 22— up from 5.0% on Feb. 16 — while the 43 related deaths represent 53.1% of the county’s death total (81) on Feb. 22.
Statewide, long-term care facilities have been associated with 18,589 cases (6% of the state’s total cases) and 2,440 related deaths (49.2% of the state’s death total), the report showed. Since Feb. 16, the state’s long-term care facilities saw increases of 3.7% in the number of cases (677 cases) and 5.4% in the number of deaths (124 deaths).
Bellingham schools report case
One new COVID-19 incident was reported by Bellingham Public Schools on its dashboard on Wednesday. The incident involved a single confirmed case this week at Carl Cozier Elementary and required one class return to remote learning with an expected return date of March 15.
The district now has had 24 incidents and 26 reported cases since it began returning to in-person learning. Bellingham’s list of schools that have seen COVID cases includes: Birchwood (three cases), Sunnyland (five cases in three incidents), Carl Cozier (three cases), Northern Heights (two cases), Alderwood (two cases), Roosevelt, Geneva, Wade King, Silver Beach, Lowell and Cordata elementaries, Fairhaven and Kulshan middle school, Sehome High School and a 23rd case at a non-school location.
The district estimates 5,820 students have returned for in-person learning and 1,200 staff members are working on site.
Whatcom’s risk assessment
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard was last updated Wednesday evening for data as of 11:59 p.m. Tuesday. 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. 8-21 with a rate of 237.5 — an increase from 232.6 reported Tuesday. Whatcom County has the sixth-highest infection rate in the state according to Wednesday’s data.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 molecular testing rate per 100,000 people Feb. 7-13 of 301.4. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 238.3, and Whatcom’s average was a decrease from the 324.8 reported Tuesday.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2.0% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 Feb. 7-13 with a rate of 4.3% — a decrease from the 4.5% reported Tuesday and the 22nd-highest rate in the state.
The latest Healthcare System Readiness risk assessment dashboard, updated Wednesday evening for data through Tuesday, shows for the North region, which combines Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, San Juan and Island counties:
▪ Occupied beds: 1,065 of the region’s 1,249 adult hospital beds (85.3%) were occupied, missing the state’s goal of 80% or less but an increase of 87 occupied beds from data Tuesday.
▪ COVID occupied beds: 44 of the region’s 1,249 adult hospital beds (3.5%) were occupied by COVID patients, making the state’s goal of 10% or less and an increase of four occupied bed from data Tuesday.
▪ Occupied ICU beds: 100 of the region’s 138 adult ICU beds (72.5%) were occupied. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it’s an increase of two beds in use from data Tuesday.
▪ COVID occupied ICU beds: 21 of the region’s 138 adult ICU beds (15.2%) 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 Tuesday.
Skagit sees first variant
Skagit County Public Health announced Wednesday that evidence of its first COVID-19 variant has been found in the County. The more contagious B.1.1.7, also referred to as the U.K. variant, has been found in an individual who tested positive for COVID-19 approximately two weeks ago.
The county reported that the individual has not traveled and is believed to have associated with another known COVID-19 case that is likely another B.1.1.7 variant case.
“We knew this was coming,” said Skagit Public Health Director Jennifer Johnson. “The B.1.1.7 variant has already been found in Whatcom, Snohomish and Island counties, and given the way COVID-19 spreads it’s likely it’s been here for a while. We should assume that this variant is circulating widely in Skagit at this time.”
Whatcom County reported its first — and so far only — B.1.1.7 variant case on Feb. 23.
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Thursday morning:
▪ The U.S. has more than 28.7 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and more than 518,000 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 115.3 million reported cases and 2.5 million deaths.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Wednesday afternoon:
▪ 323,123 confirmed cases, an increase of 636 from reported cases on Tuesday.
▪ 19,113 probable cases, an increase of 159 from Tuesday’s data.
▪ 19,466 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 33 from data Tuesday.
▪ 5,320,381 total molecular tests, an increase of 18,873 from Tuesday’s data.
▪ 5,012 deaths related to COVID-19 were reported, an increase of 24 from Tuesday. That means 1.5% 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:
▪ 1,760,668 vaccinations had been given as of Monday, March 1, according to the report, an increase of 83,881 from the previous report.
▪ The state has averaged administering 43,765 doses of vaccines the past seven days — close the Department of Health’s stated daily goal of 45,000, and an increase from the average 37,481 reported Monday.
▪ The state estimated that 14.87% of the state’s residents have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 8.37% percent of residents are fully vaccinated.
▪ 2,108,450 doses have been delivered to Washington state providers (an increase of 190,640 from Monday’s report) and 180,180 doses have been delivered for the CDC’s long-term care program (a decrease of 1,170 from Monday’s report).
▪ Of the 2,288,630 doses delivered, 76.93% have been given, according to Wednesday’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 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.
