Whatcom’s vaccination efforts beginning to catch up, as 36 new COVID cases reported Monday
Whatcom County saw 36 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported on the Washington State Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard on Monday, March 8, and its number of coronavirus-related deaths decreased by one.
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 6,834 confirmed cases and 84 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Sunday, March 6. An additional 158 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.
That means that 1.2% of Whatcom’s 6,992 total cases (confirmed and probable cases combined) have resulted in death — better than the statewide 1.5% average of total cases.
The COVID-related death that was subtracted from Whatcom County’s total was for a person that first tested positive on Jan. 5, according to the state’s epidemiological curves. Throughout the pandemic, the state has adjusted death totals to reconcile new information about which deaths were related to COVID as it comes in.
The epidemiological curves also show that the death that was reported Friday was for a person who first tested positive Feb. 20 — marking the fourth person to die after first testing positive in February. In January, there were 20.
The 36 new confirmed cases reported Monday mean Whatcom County has had 3,365 cases — or 49.2% of its pandemic total — reported during the first 67 days of 2021 (an average of 50.2 cases per day). The county’s daily average of newly reported cases the past seven days dropped to 26.9 per day.
The state Department of Health data Saturday showed Whatcom County has had 318 hospitalizations during the pandemic, which is an increase of one from Saturday’s report.
The state also reported that a total of 187,659 molecular tests have been administered in Whatcom County during the pandemic — an increase of 2,765 tests from Saturday’s report — meaning 3.64% 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 morning it was treating three patients for COVID-19, no change from Monday’s report.
Western Washington University’s most recent on-campus student COVID testing data show Monday that since Sept. 15 WWU has completed 24,540 tests and 76 students have tested positive — nine more tests but no new positive cases from the March 6 report. The college has seen 38 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 Monday that it had eight new confirmed cases since Wednesday, bringing the total number of cases in the Lummi community during the pandemic to 478. The Lummi health department reported it has 24 active cases and no current hospitalizations. During the pandemic, 12 community members have been hospitalized, three have died and the health center has conducted 4,766 tests. Positive tests for the last two weeks are at 9.03%. The Lummi Indian Business Council’s Phase 1 Shelter in Place Order is in place until March 9.
PeaceHealth vaccine update
In an updated vaccine post on Monday, PeaceHealth said it had enough of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to give more than 3,000 first doses.
“The supply we anticipate receiving this week plus the additional doses on hand will be adequate to provide approximately 3,200 first doses, and about 900 booster (second) doses,” PeaceHealth said in its online post.
— Kie Relyea, krelyea@bhamherald.com
Whatcom vaccination update
Monday’s vaccination report said that as of 11:59 p.m. Saturday, March 6, Whatcom County had administered 49,273 vaccinations — an increase of 7,773 vaccinations (up 18.73%) from Wednesday’s report. Statewide, the number of vaccine doses administered increased 10.73% from Friday’s report (200,122 doses administered).
An average of 1,656 Whatcom County residents per day received a vaccination dose from Feb. 28 to March 6, up from the 1,158 seven-day average on Friday. Vaccination data is released Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The state estimates that 18.45% of the county (or 41,569 residents) has received its first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 8.93% of the county (or 20,128 residents) is fully vaccinated. Whatcom is now ahead of the statewide 17.34% of residents receiving the first dose, but still behind the 9.95% 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 (61,697 combined first and second doses received) is 20.1% higher (12,424 doses) than the 49,273 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 Monday’s data by The Herald, Whatcom residents have received approximately 2.99% of the 2,065,762 total vaccine doses given in the state — up from 2.84% in Friday’s report. And the county has administered 2.39% of the state’s total — up from 2.22% in Friday’s report — and has administered the 11th-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 0.22 doses of vaccine per resident, which ranks 30th in the state. With residents traveling to get the vaccine, Whatcom County has received 0.28 doses of vaccine per resident, which ranks 22nd in the state. Statewide, Washington is averaging 0.28 doses per resident.
Weekly case watch
The Washington State Department of Health reported 194 new cases last week in Whatcom County between Feb. 28 and March 6, as the county’s pandemic total climbed from 6,604 to 6,834 (a 2.94% growth). It is the smallest weekly increase Whatcom County saw since 167 cases were reported between Dec. 27 and Jan. 2, when the state only reported new cases four days in the week due to the New Year’s holiday and reporting error on Jan. 2.
The 194 cases were 26.5% less than the 264 cases reported a week earlier, but it marked the 17th straight week Whatcom has surpassed 100 cases in a week and the 18th week during the pandemic that the county’s case total has reached triple figures in a week.
The state reported a total of 9,713 molecular tests between Feb. 28 and March 6, meaning Whatcom’s estimated test positivity was 2.00% last week — down from the 5.66% of the week before.
Testing site hours update
The COVID-19 testing site run by the Whatcom County Health Department and Whatcom Unified Command at the Northwest Washington Fairgrounds in Lynden will no longer operate on Saturdays.
“Since the COVID-19 testing site in Bellingham opened, usage of the testing site in Lynden has dropped,” Whatcom County Health Department Communicable Disease Manager Cindy Hollinsworth said in a release about the change. “By reducing staffing needs at the Lynden testing site, we can reassign staff to bolster other parts of our COVID-19 response, including vaccination efforts.”
The Lynden testing site will continue to operate Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, while testing services will be available every day of the week at Bellingham International Airport.
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. 13-26 with a rate of 232.6 — a decrease from 240.69 reported Friday. Whatcom County has the fifth-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. 12-18 of 289.2 No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 207.6, and Whatcom’s average was an increase from the 276.1 reported Friday.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2.0% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 Feb. 12-18 with a rate of 4.8% — an increase from the 4.4% Friday and the 19th-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: 960 of the region’s 1,256 adult hospital beds (76.4%) were occupied, making the state’s goal of 80% or less and a decrease of 88 occupied beds from data Friday.
▪ COVID occupied beds: 34 of the region’s 1,256 adult hospital beds (2.7%) were occupied by COVID patients, making the state’s goal of 10% or less and a decrease of three occupied beds from data Friday.
▪ Occupied ICU beds: 80 of the region’s 137 adult ICU beds (58.4%) were occupied. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it’s a decrease of 11 beds in use from data Friday.
▪ COVID occupied ICU beds: 13 of the region’s 137 adult ICU beds (9.5%) were occupied by COVID patients. The state does not have a goal for this metric, which was unchanged from data Friday.
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Tuesday morning:
▪ The U.S. has more than 29.0 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and more than 526,000 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 117.2 million reported cases and 2.6 million deaths.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Monday evening:
▪ 325,931 confirmed cases, an increase of 787 from reported cases on Saturday.
▪ 19,800 probable cases, an increase of 321 from Saturday’s data.
▪ 19,677 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 78 from data Saturday.
▪ 5,432,587 total molecular tests, an increase of 62,871 from Saturday’s data.
▪ 5,063 deaths related to COVID-19 were reported, an increase of 22 from Friday’s data. 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:
▪ 2,065,762 vaccinations had been given as of Saturday according to the report, an increase of 200,122 from the previous report (10.73%).
▪ The state has averaged administering 45,380 doses of vaccines the past seven days — over the Department of Health’s stated daily goal of 45,000, and an increase from the average 45,221 reported Friday.
▪ The state estimated Monday that 17.34% of the state’s residents have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 9.95% percent of residents are fully vaccinated.
▪ 2,284290 doses have been delivered to Washington state providers (an increase of 56,320 from Friday’s report) and 186,030 doses have been delivered for the CDC’s long-term care program (unchanged from Friday’s report).
▪ Of the 2,470,320 doses delivered, 83.62% 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 Feb. 26, 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.
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 9, 2021 at 8:59 AM.
