Whatcom sees 36 new COVID-19 cases, as Bellingham schools announce schedule changes
Whatcom County saw 36 more confirmed COVID-19 cases but no new related deaths reported on the Washington State Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard Thursday, April 15.
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 7,641 confirmed cases and 89 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, April 14. An additional 280 probable cases — up 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 1.1% of Whatcom’s 7,921 total cases (confirmed and probable cases combined) have resulted in death — better than the statewide 1.4% average of total cases.
Whatcom County’s daily average of newly reported cases the past seven days is 24.4, up from 22.9 on Wednesday.
Whatcom County is currently in Phase 3 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s Healthy Washington — Roadmap to Recovery plan. On Monday, Inslee announced Whatcom will remain in Phase 3 for at least the next three weeks, though Cowlitz, Pierce and Whitman counties slid back to Phase 2 beginning Friday, April 16.
To remain in Phase 3, Whatcom must make at least one of two goals set by the state on the next data evaluation date scheduled for May 3:
▪ The county must have fewer than 200 new cases per 100,000 residents in a two-week period. Whatcom’s infection rate was 143.4 between March 24 and April 6, according to the latest update of state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard on Thursday, meaning Whatcom is currently making the first goal. Whatcom County’s rate during the last evaluation period (March 20 to April 2) was 154.8.
▪ The county must also have fewer than five new COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents per seven days. Whatcom had five COVID-related hospitalizations (or 2.2 per 100,000 residents) from March 28 through April 3, according to the state’s epidemiological curves. That means Whatcom is currently making the second goal, according to data analysis by The Bellingham Herald. Whatcom County’s rate during the last evaluation period (March 24-30) was 1.3.
Other Whatcom data
▪ 344 total hospitalizations during the pandemic according to the state dashboard, up one from Wednesday’s report.
▪ 216,819 molecular tests administered, according to the state dashboard, down 1,466 from Wednesday’s report.
▪ Six patients were being treated for COVID-19 at St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham on Friday, April 16, according to the hospital, down one from Thursday.
▪ 99 Western Washington University students have tested positive for COVID-19, including 11 from the spring quarter, according to the school’s dashboard, up two from Wednesday’s data.
▪ 502 members of the Lummi Nation community have tested positive during the pandemic, according to a Lummi Tribal Health Center Facebook post Thursday, up three since Wednesday’s post. Seven cases were active according to the post, and 13 community members have been hospitalized and three have died during the pandemic.
▪ Wednesday’s vaccination report said that as of 11:59 p.m. Monday, April 12, Whatcom County had administered 108,369 doses. The state estimates 35.47% of Whatcom County residents (80,8682 people) have initiated a COVID-19 vaccine and 23.50% of Whatcom County residents (53,586 people) are fully vaccinated.
Whatcom’s risk assessment
The state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard was last updated Tuesday evening for data as of 11:59 p.m. Monday. It showed:
▪ Whatcom is missing the target rate of fewer than 25 new cases per 100,000 residents March 24 through April 6 with a rate of 143.4 — down from 145.6 on Wednesday and the 18th-highest infection rate among the 39 counties in the state.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 molecular testing rate per 100,000 people March 22-28 of 278.0. No goal was stated for this metric, however, Whatcom’s average was down from the 288.1 reported Wednesday and the second-best in the state.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2.0% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 March 22-28 with a rate of 3.4% — down from 3.5% on Wednesday and the 28th-highest rate in the state.
Bellingham schools make changes
Bellingham Public Schools is making several changes to the remaining spring schedule that will mean more in-class instruction for students.
In an email to parents and students, Superintendent Greg Baker outlined the changes for high school, middle school and elementary school students, with some of the changes starting next week.
The changes are being made to align with the current guidance from local, state and federal agencies during this COVID-19 pandemic, Baker wrote.
Here are some of the details for each school level:
High school: Starting the week of April 19 the high school schedule will include classes on Wednesdays, alternating in-person classes each week. For example, the Monday/Tuesday in-person group will attend class in-person on April 21, while the Thursday/Friday in-person group will attend class in-person on April 28. When not attending in-person, students will continue to log-in from home.
There will also be opportunities for students to attend five days of in-person as classroom capacity allows. High school families will receive details on how that will work.
“We encourage all high school students to come to school in person every day for on-site instruction because we believe it is best for student learning, community and mental health,” Baker said. “We will continue to offer a remote/Zoom-in option this spring, because we recognize some family or health circumstances make it necessary.”
Middle school: Students will continue with the current hybrid schedule, but starting the week of April 26 there will be opportunities to attend in-person four days a week.
Elementary school: Starting the week of April 26, students in grades 4-5 will move to a four-day in-person a week schedule, similar to the current schedule for kindergarten to grade 3.
“We miss serving and seeing our students every day, and we hope to be back to a more typical five-day-per-week, full-day schedule next school year,” Baker said.
—Dave Gallagher, dgallagher@bhamherald.com.
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Friday morning:
▪ The U.S. has more than 31.4 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and more than 565,000 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 139.2 million reported cases and 2.9 million deaths.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Thursday evening:
▪ 355,387 confirmed cases, up 1,186 from reported cases Wednesday.
▪ 26,338 probable cases, up 200 from Wednesday’s data.
▪ 21,292 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, up 53 from data Wednesday.
▪ 6,210,182 total molecular tests, up 16,068 from Wednesday’s data.
▪ 5,362 deaths related to COVID-19, up five from data reported Wednesday. 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:
▪ 4,299,351 vaccinations had been given as of Monday, April 12, an increase of 109,467 from the previous report.
▪ The state estimated that 34.97 % of the state’s residents (2,677,748 people) have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 23.06% percent of residents (1,765245 people) are fully vaccinated.
This story was originally published April 16, 2021 at 8:13 AM.
