Whatcom sees 42 confirmed COVID cases Thursday, as Bellingham schools report new incident
Whatcom County had 42 new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported on the Washington State Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard Thursday, April 23, but no related deaths.
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 7,840 confirmed cases and 89 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data as of 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, April 21. An additional 293 probable cases — unchanged 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 8,133 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 28.4, up from 27.6 on Wednesday.
Whatcom County is currently in Phase 3 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s Healthy Washington — Roadmap to Recovery plan. On April 12, Inslee announced Whatcom will remain in Phase 3 for at least the next three weeks, though three counties slid back to Phase 2.
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 first goal is for the county to have fewer than 200 new cases per 100,000 residents in a two-week period. Whatcom’s infection rate was 153.5 between March 31 and April 13, according to the latest update of the 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 second goal is for the county to have fewer than five new COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents per seven days. Whatcom had three COVID-related hospitalizations (or 1.3 per 100,000 residents) from April 4-10, 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
▪ 353 total hospitalizations during the pandemic according to the state dashboard, up two from Wednesday’s report.
▪ 222,876 molecular tests administered, according to the state dashboard, up 1,480 from Wednesday’s report.
▪ Fourteen patients were being treated for COVID-19 at St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham on Friday, according to the hospital, no change from Thursday.
▪ 510 members of the Lummi Nation community have tested positive during the pandemic, according to a Lummi Tribal Health Center Facebook post Thursday, up one since Tuesday’s post. Eleven cases were active according to the post, and 13 community members have been hospitalized and three have died during the pandemic.
▪ Monday’s vaccination report said that as of 11:59 p.m. Monday, April 19, Whatcom County had administered 124,893 doses. The state estimates 39.86% of Whatcom County residents (90,886 people) have initiated a COVID-19 vaccine and 26.96% of Whatcom County residents (61,472 people) are fully vaccinated.
Bellingham schools report case
One new COVID-19 incident was reported by Bellingham Public Schools on its dashboard on Thursday. The incident involved one confirmed case at Birchwood Elementary — the second separate incident reported this week — and required one class return to remote learning with an expected return date of May 6.
The district now has had 31 incidents and 34 reported cases since it began returning to in-person learning.
The district estimates 9,190 students have returned for in-person learning and 1,600 staff members are working on site.
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 31 through April 13 with a rate of 153.5 — up from 153.1 on Tuesday and 25th-highest among the 39 counties in the state.
▪ Whatcom had an average COVID-19 molecular testing rate per 100,000 people March 29 to April 4 of 260.3. No goal was stated for this metric, however, Whatcom’s average was down from the 279.1 reported Wednesday and third-highest in the state.
▪ Whatcom is missing the target of less than 2.0% of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 March 29 to April 4 with a rate of 3.5% — up from 3.3% on Wednesday and 27th-highest in the state.
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Friday morning:
▪ The U.S. has more than 31.9 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and more than 570,000 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 144.8 million reported cases and 3.0 million deaths.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Thursday evening:
▪ 363,840 confirmed cases, up 1,564 from reported cases Wednesday.
▪ 27,999 probable cases, up 51 from Wednesday’s data.
▪ 21,743 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, up 111 from data Wednesday.
▪ 6,369,809 total molecular tests, up 23,357 from Wednesday’s data.
▪ 5,428 deaths related to COVID-19, up six 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:
▪ 4,765,270 vaccinations had been given as of Monday, April 19, an increase of 95,807 from the previous report.
▪ The state estimated that 38.24% of the state’s residents (2,927,970 people) have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 25.90% percent of residents (1,982,674 people) are fully vaccinated.
This story was originally published April 23, 2021 at 8:12 AM.
