Whatcom County sees 31 new COVID cases Saturday

Whatcom County saw 31 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Washington State Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard Saturday, April 3.

Overall, Whatcom County has seen 7,373 confirmed cases and 88 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Friday, April 2. An additional 246 probable cases — up one from Friday’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 7,619 total cases (confirmed and probable cases combined) have resulted in death — better than the statewide 1.4% average of total cases.

The county’s daily average of newly reported cases the past seven days increased to 21.7 per day.

Whatcom County is currently in Phase 3 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s Healthy Washington — Roadmap to Recovery plan. To remain in Phase 3, Whatcom must make two goals set by the state on the next data evaluation date scheduled for April 12:

▪ The county must have fewer than 200 new cases per 100,000 residents in a two-week period. Whatcom’s infection rate was 141.6 between March 10 and 23, according to the latest update of state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard on Friday, meaning Whatcom is currently making the first goal.

▪ The county must also have fewer than five new COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents per seven days. Whatcom had six COVID-related hospitalizations (or 2.66 per 100,000 residents) from March 10-16 — the most recent complete data on the state’s epidemiological curves — meaning Whatcom is currently making the second goal, according to an analysis by The Bellingham Herald.

Other Whatcom data

▪ 339 total hospitalizations during the pandemic according to the state dashboard, up one from Friday’s report.

▪ 209,344 molecular tests administered, according to the state dashboard, up 2,812 from Friday’s report.

▪ Friday’s vaccination report said that as of 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, March 31, Whatcom County had administered 86,932 vaccinations. The state estimates 29.16% of Whatcom County residents (74,358 people) have initiated a COVID-19 vaccine and 18.41% of Whatcom County residents (46,945 people) are fully vaccinated.

Whatcom’s risk assessment

The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard was last updated Friday evening for data as of 11:59 p.m. Thursday. It showed:

▪ Whatcom is missing the target rate of fewer than 25 new cases per 100,000 residents March 10-23 with a rate of 141.6 — down from Thursday and the 11th-highest infection rate in the state.

▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 molecular testing rate per 100,000 people March 9-15 of 297.1. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 225.8 but Whatcom’s average was down from the 299.0 reported Thursday.

▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2.0% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 March 9-15 with a rate of 3.4% — up from the 3.3% reported Thursday and the 19th-highest rate in the state.

Numbers elsewhere

New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Saturday evening:

▪ The U.S. has more than 30.66 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and more than 554,773 deaths.

▪ Worldwide, there are more than 130.63 million reported cases and 2.84 million deaths.

Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Saturday evening:

▪ 344,516 confirmed cases, up 1,053 from reported cases Friday.

▪ 23,887 probable cases, up 235 from Friday’s data.

▪ 20,688 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, up 36 from data Friday.

▪ 5,976,673 total molecular tests, up 23,190 from Friday’s data.

▪ 5,278 deaths related to COVID-19 on Friday. That means 1.4% of all Washington residents who have tested positive for coronavirus have died. New deaths are not reported on the weekends.

This story was originally published April 4, 2021 at 7:00 AM.