Whatcom surpasses 8,000 COVID cases, as one death and seven hospitalizations reported
Whatcom County’s COVID-19 numbers, including those that will dictate whether it stays in Phase 3 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s Healthy Washington — Roadmap to Recovery plan or rolls back to Phase 2, continued to climb at higher rates on Wednesday.
The county surpassed 8,000 total cases during the pandemic with 58 new confirmed cases reported April 28 on the Washington State Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard. Additionally, Whatcom saw seven more COVID-related hospitalizations reported and one more death.
Earlier Wednesday, Whatcom County Health Department Director Erika Lautenbach told The Bellingham Herald that even though Whatcom County appears to be on track to remain in Phase 3 for the state’s next data evaluation on Monday, March 3, “we’re still apprehensive about the recent numbers.”
Lautenbach urged county residents to intensify their efforts to wear face coverings and social distance and to utilize “our most powerful tool to fight COVID-19, the vaccine,” as the county could face a rollback to Phase 2 during future data evaluations if current trends continue.
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 8,049 confirmed cases and 90 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data. An additional 305 probable cases — unchanged from the last report — have been reported in Whatcom County during the pandemic, resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
The COVID-related death reported Wednesday was for a person who first tested positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 21, 2020, according to the state’s epidemiological curves, but no other information about the person, such as gender, age or hometown was reported. It marked Whatcom’s first reported death since April 14.
During the pandemic, 1.1% of Whatcom’s 8,354 total cases (confirmed and probable cases combined) have resulted in death — better than the statewide 1.4% average of total cases.
The 58 cases reported Wednesday were the largest reported increase the county has seen since 94 were reported Feb. 22.
Whatcom County’s daily average of newly reported cases the past seven days is 35.9, up from an average of 27.6 one week earlier (April 15-21).
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 Monday:
▪ 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 175.0 from April 7-20, according to the latest update of the state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard on Wednesday, meaning Whatcom is currently making the 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 eight COVID-related hospitalizations (or 3.5 per 100,000 residents) from April 11-17 according to the state’s epidemiological curves. That means Whatcom is currently making the goal, according to data analysis by The Bellingham Herald. Whatcom County’s rate during the last evaluation period (March 24-30) was 1.3.
Whatcom County has had 370 hospitalizations reported during the pandemic, including 22 active hospitalizations on Thursday reported by St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham.
Whatcom vaccination update
Wednesday’s vaccination report said that Whatcom County has administered 137,093 doses — up 1.09% (1,481 vaccinations) from the last report. That was behind the state’s 1.75% increase in doses administered for the same period.
Vaccination data is updated on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons. Here is what data analysis of the latest numbers by The Bellingham Herald show:
▪ Whatcom County — the ninth most populated county in Washington state with approximately 3% of the state’s total population, according to 2019 U.S. Census estimates — has administered the 10th most doses of the 39 counties in the state.
▪ The state estimates 42.90% of Whatcom County residents have initiated a COVID-19 vaccine — sixth-highest in the state and ahead of the statewide average of 41.54%. The state reports 97,820 people in Whatcom County have initiated vaccination — an increase of 1,008 from the last report.
▪ The state estimates 29.74% of Whatcom County residents are fully vaccinated — 12th-highest in the state and ahead of the statewide average of 28.86%. The state reports 67,797 people in Whatcom County are fully vaccinated — an increase of 638 from the last report.
▪ Based on 2019 five-year population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, Whatcom County has administered 0.62 doses of vaccine per resident — 27th in the state and behind the overall state average of 0.71 doses per person.
▪ Statewide, there have been 5,248,061 vaccine doses administered — up 90,270 from the last report. So far, 3,180,265 residents have initiated vaccination and 2,209,736 have completed it.
COVID variant update
Whatcom County saw 56 new confirmed COVID-19 variant cases last week, according to the latest SARS-CoV-2 Sequencing and Variants report by the Washington State Department of Health released Thursday. It was the largest single-week increase the county has seen so far.
The county had 52 new confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 (United Kingdom) variant, according to the report, upping its total to 79. Whatcom has the third most confirmed B.1.1.7 variant cases in the state behind only King (867 cases) and Snohomish (193) counties.
Whatcom also saw three new P.1 (Brazil) variant cases and one new B.1.427 (California) variant cases and now has four confirmed cases of each.
No other variants have been detected in Whatcom County.
Here are the statewide variant totals reported Thursday:
▪ B.1.1.7 (U.K.) variant: 1,380 cases.
▪ B.1.351 (South Africa) variant: 36 cases.
▪ P.1 (Brazil) variant: 222 cases.
▪ B.1.427 (California) variant: 257 cases.
▪ B.1.429 (California) variant: 1,661 cases.
▪ B.1.526 (New York) variant: 87 cases.
▪ B.1.525 (New York) variant: 25 cases.
▪ P.2 (Brazil variant: 31 cases.
Lynden events canceled
The Lynden Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday announced via Facebook that it is canceling the Farmers Day Parade and Northwest Raspberry Festivals in 2021 due to COVID-19.
“The current guidance restrictions and goals from the State of Washington, specifically for special events and parades, is simply not achievable for our events at this time,” the post read. “With very strict limitations on allowable spectator numbers, an inability to enforce those limitations, and our own hesitancy to take action with our visitors, even if we could, it was 100% certain we would be in violation of the guidance, in numerous areas.”
The post also stated that concerns over guidelines likely changing and negative feedback from hosting the events also factored into the decision to cancel.
“This option was not reached lightly, with every avenue having been explored, and innumerable alternative options offered and considered,” the post read. “These men and women did what they didn’t want to do, in the best interest of our community.”
The post did promise the 2022 events will be “for the history books!”
Another barrier passed
It took Whatcom County 43 days to move from 7,000 reported confirmed cases to 8,000 — one week longer than it took to go from 6,000 to 7,000. Here is a look at how long it took Whatcom County to surpass barriers for total number of reported confirmed cases during the pandemic:
▪ First case: March 10
▪ 1,000th case: Aug. 12 (155 days).
▪ 2,000th case: Nov. 20 (100 days).
▪ 3,000th case: Dec. 17 (27 days).
▪ 4,000th case: Jan. 8 (22 days).
▪ 5,000th case: Jan. 21 (13 days).
▪ 6,000th case: Feb. 8 (18 days).
▪ 7,000th case: March 16 (36 days).
▪ 8,000th case: April 28 (43 days).
Bellingham schools report case
Bellingham Public Schools reported on its dashboard Wednesday that it had a new COVID-19 incident at Roosevelt Elementary School. The incident involved one confirmed case and required one class return to remote learning with an expected return date of May 13.
The district now has had 34 incidents and 36 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.
State vaccine allotment
The Washington State Health Department reported it expects more vaccine doses from the federal government to be delivered next week, according to a news release Wednesday, and the numbers over the next three weeks should continue to climb.
The increases are due to the pause being taken off the Johnson & Johnson one-dose vaccine, as the state expects the same number of Pfizer and Moderna doses.
The three-week forecast is:
▪ Week of May 2: 394,060 total doses, including 208,380 first doses and 185,680 second doses. Among those, the state is expecting 219,960 Pfizer doses, 157,400 Moderna doses and 16,700 Johnson & Johnson doses..
▪ Week of May 9: 387,660 total doses, including 195,980 first doses and 191,680 second doses. Among those, the state is expecting 219,960 Pfizer doses, 163,400 Moderna doses and 4,300 Johnson & Johnson doses.
▪ Week of May 16: 387,660 total doses, including 195,980 first doses and 191,680 second doses. Among those, the state is expecting 219,960 Pfizer doses, 163,400 Moderna doses and 4,300 Johnson & Johnson doses.
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Thursday morning, April 29:
▪ The U.S. has more than 32.2 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and more than 574,00 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 149.7 million reported cases and 3.1 million deaths.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Wednesday evening:
▪ 370,861 confirmed cases, up 1,380 from the last report.
▪ 29,288 probable cases, up 260 from the last report.
▪ 22,111 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, up 78 from the last report.
▪ 6,487,353 total molecular tests, up 19,684 from the last report.
▪ 5,474 deaths related to COVID-19, up 12 from the last report.
This story was originally published April 29, 2021 at 9:46 AM.
