Whatcom sees 29 new COVID cases Thursday and is No. 2 county for U.K. variant
Whatcom County saw 29 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and no related deaths on the Washington State Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard Thursday, April 8.
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 7,4705 confirmed cases and 88 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, April 7. An additional 259 probable cases — down one 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 1.1% of Whatcom’s 7,729 total cases (confirmed and probable cases combined) have resulted in death — better than the statewide 1.4% average of total cases.
The state Department of Health Thursday night said COVID-19 transmission is increasing statewide, with the best estimate for the reproductive number (how many new people each COVID-19 patient will infect) in Washington on March 19 was 1.38. The goal is to maintain a reproductive number well below one — meaning COVID-19 transmission is declining — for a substantial amount of time.
Statewide daily case counts began increasing in late March following a plateau in mid-February, the agency’s newsletter wrote. The seven-day rolling average on March 26 was 915 new cases per day. “There is some variation at the county level, but many counties saw increases in the two weeks ending March 25, including four of the five largest counties (Clark, King, Pierce and Snohomish).”
The biggest increases are in younger people, who are less likely to be vaccinated and can still get very sick or die of COVID-19, the state said. The data show sharp increases in people ages 10-49, and shallower increases in children ages 0-9 and adults ages 50-69.
Whatcom County’s daily average of newly reported cases the past seven days is 21.0, down from 21.9 on Wednesday.
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 Monday, 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 138.5 between March 16 and 29, according to the latest update of state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard on Thursday, 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 seven COVID-related hospitalizations (or 3.10 per 100,000 residents) from March 15-21 — 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
▪ 338 total hospitalizations during the pandemic according to the state dashboard, no change from Wednesday’s report.
▪ 212,478 molecular tests administered, according to the state dashboard, up 432 from Wednesday’s report.
▪ Two patients are being treated for COVID-19 at St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham on Friday, according to the hospital, up one from Thursday.
▪ 94 Western Washington University students have tested positive for COVID-19, including six from the spring quarter, according to the school’s dashboard, up one from Wednesday’s data.
▪ Wednesday’s vaccination report said that as of 11:59 p.m. Monday, April 2, Whatcom County had administered 94,370 doses. The state estimates 31.58% of Whatcom County residents (71,055 people) have initiated a COVID-19 vaccine and 20.39% of Whatcom County residents (45,877 people) are fully vaccinated.
Vaccination data reported on the state dashboard does not include data from tribal health providers in Whatcom County, which receive COVID-19 vaccines directly from the federal government.
Covid variant update
Two more cases of the B.1.1.7 variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 — also known as the U.K. variant — have been found in Whatcom County, according to the latest SARS-CoV-2 Sequencing and Variants report released on Thursday.
That brings the total cases of the U.K. variant detected so far in Whatcom County to 27, second in the state behind King County with its 212 confirmed cases, according to the newest report from the Washington State Department of Health
Whatcom County also has three cases of a second variant, the B.1.427, one of two California variants. That number has been unchanged since the state’s previous report on April 1.
Public health officials are concerned about these variants, which are coronavirus mutations, and others because they can spread more easily among people, make people sicker and resist disease-fighting antibodies produced by the body via vaccination or a COVID-19 illness.
— Kie Relyea, krelyea@bhamherald.com
Whatcom’s risk assessment
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard was last updated Thursday evening for data as of 11:59 p.m. Wednesday. It showed:
▪ Whatcom is missing the target rate of fewer than 25 new cases per 100,000 residents March 16-29 with a rate of 138.5 — down from 138.9 on Wednesday and the 15th-highest infection rate in the state.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 molecular testing rate per 100,000 people March 15-21 of 301.7. No goal was stated for this metric, however, the overall statewide number was 222.9 and Whatcom’s average was down from the 302.9 reported Wednesday.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2.0% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 March 15-21 with a rate of 2.3% —no charge from data on Wednesday and the 28th-highest rate in the state.
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Thursday evening:
▪ The U.S. has more than 30.98 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and more than 560,065 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 133.75 million reported cases and 2.898 million deaths.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Thursday evening:
▪ 348,431 confirmed cases, up 908 from reported cases Wednesday.
▪ 24,781 probable cases, up 134 from Wednesday’s data.
▪ 20,933 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, up 48 from data Wednesday.
▪ 6,075,300 total molecular tests, up 14,064 from Wednesday’s data.
▪ 5,316 deaths related to COVID-19, up 10 from Wednesday’s data. That means 1.4% of all Washington residents who have tested positive for coronavirus have died.
According to the state’s latest vaccination report on Wednesday:
▪ 3,798,746 vaccinations had been given as of Monday, April 5, an increase of 76,043 from the previous report.
▪ The state has averaged administering 59,592 doses of vaccines the past seven days — more than the Department of Health’s stated daily goal of 45,000, but down from the average 59,600 reported Monday.
▪ The state estimated that 31.39% of the state’s residents (2,324,1494 people) have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 19.98% percent of residents (1,479,340 people) are fully vaccinated.
▪ 84.83% of the 4,477,920 doses that have been distributed to Washington state providers and long-term care centers have been administered.
This story was originally published April 9, 2021 at 8:00 AM.
