Whatcom County sees 33 new confirmed COVID cases, state reports Thursday
Whatcom County had 33 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported on the Washington State Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard on Tuesday, March 2, but no related deaths were reported.
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 6,734 confirmed cases and 84 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, March 3. An additional 152 probable cases — a decrease of two from Wednesday’s report — have been reported in Whatcom County during the pandemic, resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
That means that 1.2% of Whatcom’s 6,886 total cases (confirmed and probable cases combined) have resulted in death — better than the statewide 1.5% average of total cases.
The 33 new confirmed cases reported Thursday mean Whatcom County has had 3,265 cases — or 48.5% of its pandemic total — reported during the first 63 days of 2021 (an average of 51.8 cases per day). The county’s daily average of newly reported cases the past week decreased to 27.4 per day.
The state Department of Health data Wednesday showed Whatcom County has had 317 hospitalizations during the pandemic, which is an increase of one from Wednesday’s report.
The state also reported that a total of 182,744 molecular tests have been administered in Whatcom County during the pandemic — an increase of 124 tests from Wednesday’s report — meaning 3.68% 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.
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.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham, which is licensed and staffed for 241 beds, reported to The Herald on Friday morning, March 5, it was treating six patients for COVID-19, unchanged from Thursday’s report.
Western Washington University’s most recent on-campus student COVID testing data show Thursday that since Sept. 15 WWU has completed 23,985 tests and 75 students have tested positive — unchanged from Tuesday’s report. The college has seen 37 new cases since the school resumed testing following the winter break after seeing 38 cases during the fall quarter.
The Nooksack Indian Tribe announced in a Facebook post Thursday that it has seen one more confirmed case within its community, bringing the pandemic total to 63. Two cases are active, one case is listed as unrecovered while 60 have recovered, according to the post. So far, the Nooksack health team has conducted 2,906 tests during the pandemic, with results for nine pending. Nooksack instituted a Shelter in Place Order on Jan. 6, mandating that all residents stay in their homes except for essential reasons and restricted them from gathering with people outside their households until further notice.
Football game canceled
The high school football game between Meridian High School and Lynden Christian has been canceled due to a COVID-19 exposure, according to an email to The Bellingham Herald from athletic director Bryant Michaelson.
No other information about which school was impacted or how many players and/or coaches were exposed was given.
Meridian is next scheduled to host Bellingham on Thursday, March 11, while Lynden Christian is set to travel to King’s on Saturday, March 13.
Whatcom’s risk assessment
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard was last updated Thursday evening for data as of 11:59 p.m. Wednesday. 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. 9-22 with a rate of 241.9 — an increase from 237.5 reported Wednesday. Whatcom County has the sixth-highest infection rate in the state according to Thursday’s data.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 molecular testing rate per 100,000 people Feb. 8-14 of 298.6. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 235.4, and Whatcom’s average was a decrease from the 301.4 reported Wednesday.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2.0% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 Feb. 8-14 with a rate of 4.4% — an increase from the 4.3% reported Wednesday and the 22nd-highest rate in the state.
The latest Healthcare System Readiness risk assessment dashboard, updated Thursday evening for data through Wednesday, shows for the North region, which combines Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, San Juan and Island counties:
▪ Occupied beds: 1,058 of the region’s 1,248 adult hospital beds (84.8%) were occupied, missing the state’s goal of 80% or less but a decrease of seven occupied beds from data Wednesday.
▪ COVID occupied beds: 34 of the region’s 1,248 adult hospital beds (2.7%) were occupied by COVID patients, making the state’s goal of 10% or less and a decrease of 10 occupied bed from data Wednesday.
▪ Occupied ICU beds: 101 of the region’s 138 adult ICU beds (73.2%) were occupied. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it’s an increase of one bed in use from data Wednesday.
▪ COVID occupied ICU beds: 14 of the region’s 138 adult ICU beds (10.1%) were occupied by COVID patients. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it was a decrease of seven occupied beds from data Wednesday.
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Friday morning:
▪ The U.S. has more than 28.8 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and more than 520,000 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 115.7 million reported cases and 2.5 million deaths.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Thursday afternoon:
▪ 323,839 confirmed cases, an increase of 716 from reported cases on Wednesday.
▪ 19,251 probable cases, an increase of 138 from Wednesday’s data.
▪ 19,500 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 34 from data Wednesday.
▪ 5,320,381 total molecular tests, an increase of 24,021 from Wednesday’s data.
▪ 5,032 deaths related to COVID-19 were reported, an increase of 20 from Wednesday. 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 to 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.
