Whatcom reports 92nd COVID-19 related death, 24 new cases; misses both phase goals
Whatcom County saw one new death related to COVID-19 and 24 new cases reported Thursday, May 6, on the Washington State Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard.
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 8,313 confirmed cases and 92 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data. An additional 321 probable cases — up one from the last report — have been reported in Whatcom County during the pandemic, resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
No information about the person who died, such as gender, age or hometown was reported.
During the pandemic, 1.1% of Whatcom’s 8,634 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 32.9, down from an average of 34.7 one week earlier (April 22-28).
To remain in Phase 3, Whatcom must make at least one of two goals set by the state on the next data evaluation date, which was originally scheduled to occur Tuesday, May 4, but was pushed back two weeks by Gov. Jay Inslee:
▪ 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 exactly that — 204.4 — from April 15-28, according to the latest update of the state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard on Thursday. That means Whatcom is missing the goal, along with 56% of all counties statewide.
▪ 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 14 COVID-related hospitalizations (or 6.21 per 100,000 residents) from April 19-25 according to the state’s epidemiological curves. That means Whatcom is missing the goal, according to data analysis by The Bellingham Herald.
Whatcom’s 388 reported COVID-related hospitalizations remained flat on Thursday from Wednesday, May 5, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard. St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported 23 hospitalizations Friday, down one from Thursday.
Wednesday’s vaccination report said that Whatcom County has administered 149,139 doses — up 1.02% (1,745 vaccinations) from the last report. That was slightly ahead of the state’s 1.01% increase in doses administered for the same period.
Vaccination data is updated on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons.
Statewide, there have been 5,642,156 vaccine doses administered — up 54,516 from the last report. So far, 3,368,279 residents (54.82% of all eligible residents in the state) have initiated vaccination and 2,419,434 (39.38%) have completed it.
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Thursday evening:
▪ The U.S. has more than 32.60 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and more than 580,054 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 155.625 million reported cases and 3.25 million deaths.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Thursday evening:
▪ 380,109 confirmed cases, up 1,009 from the last report.
▪ 30,966 probable cases, up 133 from the last report.
▪ 22,664 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, up 50 from the last report.
▪ 6,644,827 total molecular tests, up 18,442 from the last report.
▪ 5,553 deaths related to COVID-19, up 14 from the last report.
This story was originally published May 7, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
