One group of residents has Whatcom ‘teetering on the edge of moving back to Phase 2’
Whatcom County is currently failing both metrics the state will use in one week to determine if the county will remain in Phase 3 of the Healthy Washington — Roadmap to Recovery plan or if it will be forced to roll back to the stricter regulations of Phase 2.
“We are teetering on the edge of moving back to Phase 2 in Whatcom County, pending the evaluation next week and further data and whether the governor’s pause is extended,” Whatcom County Health Department Director Erika Lautenbach said during an online briefing Tuesday morning, May 11.
And the numbers show there is one group of people that is responsible for the predicament Whatcom County finds itself in — those who are not fully vaccinated.
That group of people still makes up about two-thirds of Whatcom County residents.
As of Saturday, May 8, the Washington State Department of Health reported that 81,411 Whatcom County residents had completed vaccination. That works out to 43.18% of the county’s eligible residents (those over age 16) being fully vaccinated, or 35.71% of the entire population.
Another 25,719 residents (107,130 residents total) had initiated vaccination, but had not yet completed it, the state reported.
“That’s a great indicator of our community immunity — about one third of the population is fully vaccinated,” Lautenbach said.
But it is the other two-thirds of the community that health officials are worried about, and the numbers bear out that concern.
As of data released Monday on the state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard, Whatcom County saw 213.2 new COVID-19 infections per 100,000 residents between April 19 and May 2 — surpassing the state’s allowable infection rate of 200 cases per 100,000 residents in a two week period.
But among the third of the population that has been fully vaccinated, the health department estimates the infection rate is only one or two cases per 100,000 residents, Lautenbach reported. The rest of the cases — an infection rate of approximately 289 — are among the two-thirds of Whatcom’s population that is not yet fully vaccinated.
The numbers are even more dramatic among those for the second metric the state uses — weekly hospitalization rate.
Overall, Whatcom County is currently missing the state’s allowable weekly rate of five hospitalizations per 100,000 residents with a rate of 7.9.
The third of Whatcom’s population that is fully vaccinated has accounted for none of those hospitalizations, Lautenbach reported. That means the two-thirds of the population that is not yet fully vaccinated has an estimated weekly hospitalization rate of 19.3 per 100,000 — almost four times what the state allows.
“Locally, based on what we’re seeing, the vaccine is 95% effective in preventing infection,” Lautenbach said. “It’s remarkable. It’s more than we hoped for. It’s consistent with the rates the FDA approved the vaccine for, and it’s a testament to the value and importance of being vaccinated.”
Slowing vaccination rates
The number of people being vaccinated in Whatcom County is beginning to slow, according to state data.
Though the data is not yet finalized and could change, the state reported that Whatcom County averaged administering approximately 1,324 vaccine doses per day last week (May 2-8).
That was down approximately 22% from the 1,701 doses per day Whatcom County averaged administering the week before (April 25-May 1), which was down 10% from the 1,888 daily doses the county averaged the previous two weeks.
“We are making progress with vaccination,” Lautenbach said, “but as we’ve talked about the last few weeks, we’re seeing significant slowing in demand.”
In an effort to combat that, Lautenbach said Whatcom County providers are creating pop-up and mobile vaccination clinics to help reach people who have not been vaccinated.
One of the collaborative vaccination efforts this week, Lautenbach said, will be a clinic reaching out to Whatcom County’s unsheltered population.
“We’re trying to meet people where they are and remove any barriers that exist that could keep them from getting their vaccination,” Lautenbach said. “To those who have not yet been vaccinated, this is your opportunity. Please get your vaccination as soon as you can.”
In another effort to make vaccination even more accessible, the health department on Monday announced that the Community Vaccination Center at Bellingham Technical College will now be welcoming walk-ins.
Appointments still will be encouraged, but are no longer required, according to a release on the move. The clinic is currently being held from 4-6 p.m. Tuesdays, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Thursdays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays.
Also, as of Monday, the release said other providers were accepting walk-in at:
▪ Costco.
▪ Haggen on 12th Street in Bellingham (if scheduled vaccine appointments are not full).
▪ Haggen in Ferndale (if extra doses are available).
▪ Haggen on Meridian Street in Bellingham.
▪ Haggen on Woburn Street in Bellingham.
▪ PeaceHealth Community Vaccination Center.
▪ Safeway in Bellingham (if extra doses are available).
▪ Walgreens (call first to check availability).
More information about vaccination efforts in Whatcom County, including the Community Vaccination Center, is available at VaccinateWhatcom.org.
This story was originally published May 11, 2021 at 11:48 AM.
