134 COVID-19 outbreaks linked to these Washington schools, according to state report
A total of 134 COVID-19 outbreaks occurred in K-12 schools in Washington state between August and February.
The outbreaks involved 526 COVID-19 cases, according to a March 31 report from the Washington State Department of Health.
Of the 526 COVID-19 cases, the median age was 21.5 years and 58 percent were female.
A majority of the outbreaks — 64 percent — involved two or three cases, and 49 percent of COVID-19 cases were students aged 18 and under.
For race, 46 percent of the people were non-Hispanic white, 9 percent were Hispanic, 7 percent were “other” and the remaining 39 percent were unknown. Less than 10 were hospitalized overnight, and there were zero reported deaths. Of the hospitalized cases, 80 percent were among adult staff.
Of the schools that experienced an outbreak, 40 were private and 94 were public. At the time of the reported outbreak, five schools were fully remote, 16 were teaching fully in-person, 26 were using a hybrid in-person and remote model, and 16 were primarily remote, with select students needing specific care attending in person. The remaining 71 schools either reported another learning model or data was unavailable.
The DOH defines an outbreak as occurring if:
There are two or more laboratory‐positive (PCR or antigen) COVID‐19 cases among students or staff,
The cases have a symptom onset within a 14‐day period of each other,
The cases are “epidemiologically linked,” or the patients had contact with one or more persons with COVID-19,
The cases do not share a household, and
The cases are not identified as close contacts of each other in another setting.
Whatcom school cases
In Whatcom County, Lynden School District’s COVID-19 dashboard shows 68 total cases and the Bellingham Public Schools dashboard details 32 cases during the pandemic.
In Lynden, there were 30 cases from Oct. 12 to Jan. 31 and 38 cases since Feb. 1. In Bellingham, there were 11 cases from Nov. 16 to Jan. 31 and 21 cases since Feb. 1.
The Blaine School District’s dashboard shows 8 cases in January and February.
