Whatcom sees 27 new COVID cases Thursday, but no new B.1.1.7 variants last week
Whatcom County had 27 new confirmed COVID-19 cases but no deaths reported on the Washington State Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard on Thursday, March 11.
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 6,908 confirmed cases and 85 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, March 10. An additional 167 probable cases — an increase of four 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 7,044 total cases (confirmed and probable cases combined) have resulted in death — better than the statewide 1.5% average of total cases.
The 27 new confirmed cases reported Wednesday mean Whatcom County has had 3,439 cases — or 49.8% of its pandemic total — reported during the first 70 days of 2021 (an average of 49.1 cases per day). The county’s daily average of newly reported cases the past seven days decreased to 24.9 per day.
The state Department of Health data Thursday showed Whatcom County has had 318 hospitalizations during the pandemic, which is unchanged from Wednesday’s report.
The state also reported that a total of 188,867 molecular tests have been administered in Whatcom County during the pandemic — a decrease of 16 tests from Wednesday’s report — meaning 3.66% 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 8, Whatcom County had administered 49,794 vaccinations — an increase of 521 vaccinations (up 1.06%) from Monday’s report, which was for data through Saturday, March 6. Statewide, the number of vaccine doses administered increased 3.61% from Monday’s report (74,656 doses administered).
An average of 1,651 Whatcom County residents per day received a vaccination dose from March 2-8, a slight drop from the 1,656 seven-day average on Monday. Vaccination data is released Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The state estimates that 18.69% of the county has received its first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 9.04% of the county is fully vaccinated. Whatcom remained ahead of the statewide average of 18.04% of residents receiving a first dose and behind the statewide average of 10.26% of residents being fully vaccinated.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham, which is licensed and staffed for 241 beds, reported to The Herald on Friday morning it was treating four patients for COVID-19, an increase of two 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 25,357 tests and 78 students have tested positive — an increase of one case from Tuesday’s report. The college has seen 40 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 Thursday that it had seven new confirmed cases, bringing the total number of cases in the Lummi community during the pandemic to 488. The Lummi health department reported it has 29 active cases and no current hospitalizations. During the pandemic, 12 community members have been hospitalized, three have died and the health center has conducted 4,823 tests. Positive tests for the last two weeks are at 11.29%. The Lummi Indian Business Council announced Wednesday that its Phase 1 Shelter in Place Order has been extended through March 24.
COVID variant update
After seeing 13 new confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 variant of COVID-19 — also known as the U.K. variant — the previous week, Whatcom County saw no new variant cases last week, according to the latest SARS-CoV-2 Sequencing and Variants report by the Washington State Department of Health released Thursday.
Whatcom County has had 14 B.1.1.7 variant cases reported so far, which is still second in the state behind only King County, which has 68 confirmed cases. Whatcom County also has not had any confirmed cases of the B.1.351 variant (also known as the South Africa variant) or the P.1 variant (also known as the Brazil variant), according to the report.
Overall, the state has seen 99 B.1.1.7 cases (an increase of 29 from last week’s report) and five B.1.351 cases (unchanged from last week’s report).
The state also saw its first confirmed case of the P.1 variant in King County last week, according to the report. King County also has all five B.1.351 variant cases.
There are six B.1.1.7 cases in Pierce County, three in Clark and two in Snohomish, while Benton, Grays Harbor and Skagit each have one case.
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. 16-March 1 with a rate of 238.3 — an increase from 234.4 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. 15-21 of 326.8. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 225.7, and Whatcom’s average was an increase from the 231.0 reported Wednesday.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2.0% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 Feb. 15-21 with a rate of 5.5% — an increase from the 5.4% Wednesday and the 16th-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: 1,022 of the region’s 1,250 adult hospital beds (81.8%) were occupied, missing the state’s goal of 80% or less but a decrease of three occupied beds from data Wednesday.
▪ COVID occupied beds: 29 of the region’s 1,250 adult hospital beds (2.3%) were occupied by COVID patients, making the state’s goal of 10% or less and a decrease of 10 occupied beds from data Wednesday.
▪ Occupied ICU beds: 89 of the region’s 137 adult ICU beds (65.0%) 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: 12 of the region’s 137 adult ICU beds (8.8%) were occupied by COVID patients. The state does not have a goal for this metric, but it’s a decrease of one 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 29.2 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and more than 530,000 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 118.7 million reported cases and 2.6 million deaths.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Thursday evening:
▪ 327,672 confirmed cases, an increase of 672 from reported cases on Wednesday.
▪ 20,212 probable cases, an increase of 81 from Wednesday’s data.
▪ 19,747 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, an increase of 18 from data Wednesday.
▪ 5,492,356 total molecular tests, an increase of 21,447 from Wednesday’s data.
▪ 5,107 deaths related to COVID-19 were reported, an increase of seven from Wednesday’s data. 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:
▪ 2,140,418 vaccinations had been given as of Monday according to the report, an increase of 74,656 from the previous report (3.61%).
▪ The state has averaged administering 46,119 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 45,380 reported Monday.
▪ The state estimated Wednesday that 18.04% of the state’s residents have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 10.26% percent of residents are fully vaccinated.
▪ 2,560,840 doses have been delivered to Washington state providers (an increase of 276,550 from Monday’s report) and 186,030 doses have been delivered for the CDC’s long-term care program (unchanged from Monday’s report).
▪ Of the 2,746,870 doses delivered, 77.92% have been given, according to Wednesday’s report.
Washington state actions
On Thursday Inslee announced that the Roadmap to Recovery plan would transition from the regional approach back to a county-by-county evaluation process and that all counties will begin in Phase 3 effective March 22.
In Phase 3, outdoor professional sports can welcome back fans at 25% capacity, according to Inslee’s office, while capacity for indoor activities such as dining at restaurants, attending worship services and shopping at retail stores will double to 50% occupancy.
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 restrictions in Phase 2 will be in some way expanded in Phase 3, according to Inslee’s office. That includes restaurants, gyms, retail, movie theaters, and professional and personal services.
Up to 50% occupancy or 400 people, whichever is lower, will be allowed for indoor activities that were allowed in Phase 2.
Up to 400 people will be allowed for outdoor activities and indoor events with physical distancing and masking in place, according to the governor’s office, as long as that count doesn’t exceed 50 percent capacity. Events at bigger venues will have different guidelines: 25% occupancy or up to 9,000 people.
This story was originally published March 12, 2021 at 8:32 AM.
