With 46 COVID cases, 15 hospitalizations and a death, Whatcom falling further from Phase 3
With Gov. Jay Inslee expected to lift the two-week pause on phase shifts in his Healthy Washington — Roadmap to Recovery plan early next week, Whatcom County continues to head in the wrong direction and appears likely to be headed back to the stricter Phase 2 guidelines.
Whatcom saw 46 new COVID-19 cases and 15 COVID-related hospitalizations added to its pandemic totals on the Washington State Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard Tuesday, May 11. Both metrics will factor into which phase the county will be in after the state’s next data evaluation date.
Additionally, another COVID-related death was added to Whatcom’s total Tuesday.
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 8,522 confirmed cases, 408 hospitalizations and 93 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data. An additional 333 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.
Whatcom County Health Department Director Erika Lautenbach called Whatcom’s fourth wave of cases and hospitalizations “concerning” during an online briefing Tuesday.
“Unlike in some of the counties in our region, we have not seen a leveling off or a reduction in cases,” Lautenbach said. “We are still seeing it increase, and that is concerning.”
Health department analysis of cases and hospitalizations showed that all of the COVID-related hospitalizations and almost all of the new cases in recent weeks have been in Whatcom residents who are not fully vaccinated, Lautenbach said.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham is seeing the same thing in the COVID-related patients it has admitted during the county’s fourth wave, Dr. Sudhakar Karlapudi, chief medical officer for PeaceHealth Northwest, said during Tuesday’s briefing.
“I can tell you with confidence that so far all patients who have been admitted to St. Joe’s with COVID had not received their COVID vaccine yet,” Karlapudi said. “Essentially what that tells us is it proves what science has proven to us before — that the COVID vaccine essentially prevents people from getting the severe form of the disease.”
Because of its recent increases in cases and hospitalizations, Lautenbach said Whatcom is “teetering on the edge of moving back to Phase 2” once the state resumes moving counties up or down phases.
Inslee on May 4 announced a two-week pause to any phase movement, allowing all counties to stay in their current phase until the next evaluation date. Lautenbach said the county health department currently is expecting the next evaluation to occur on Tuesday, May 18.
To remain in Phase 3, Whatcom County must make at least one of two data-driven goals set by the state on the next evaluation date:
▪ 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 224.1 from April 20 to May 3, according to the latest update of the state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard. That means Whatcom is currently missing 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 in seven days. Whatcom had 16 COVID-related hospitalizations from April 24-30 according to the state’s epidemiological curves. That means Whatcom is averaging 7.0 hospitalizations per 100,000 residents over the past week of completed data, according to analysis by The Bellingham Herald, and it is therefore missing the goal. Whatcom County’s rate during the last evaluation period (March 24-30) was 1.3.
If Whatcom drops back to Phase 2 from Phase 3:
▪ The maximum number of people allowed at indoor social gatherings will decrease from 10 to five people from different households and outdoor gatherings will be limited to 15 people, down from 50.
▪ Maximum capacity for indoor worship services, retail stores, professional services, personal services, restaurants and bars, indoor sports and fitness establishments and indoor entertainment establishments will drop from 50% to 25%.
▪ The maximum number of people allowed at outdoor sports and fitness establishments and outdoor entertainment events will drop from 400 to 200.
With the 46 new cases reported Tuesday, Whatcom County’s daily average of new reported cases over the past week increased to 40.0, up from 35.9 one week earlier (April 28 through May 4).
The COVID-related death reported Tuesday was for a person who first tested positive for COVID-19 on May 1, according to the state’s epidemiological curves — the first person in Whatcom County to die after testing positive in May. No other information about the person, such as gender, age or hometown was reported.
During the pandemic, 1.1% of Whatcom’s 8,855 total cases (confirmed and probable cases combined) have resulted in death — better than the statewide 1.3% average of total cases.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 22 COVID-related patients on Wednesday— down three from Tuesday.
Whatcom vaccine allocation
Whatcom County is expecting nearly 55% fewer initial COVID vaccine doses from the Washington State Department of Health this week compared to what it received last week, according to the latest vaccine update from the Whatcom County Health Department Tuesday.
Last week, the county administered more than 10,890 initial vaccine doses according to the health department release, including 4,140 from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s allocation to the state Department of Health.
This week the CDC total is expecting the allocation from the state to drop to 1,870 initial doses.
An additional 3,840 second doses are expected this week — an increase of 400 from what was expected last week — according to the county’s vaccine update.
Monday’s vaccination report said that Whatcom County has administered 158,917 doses and that 56.82% of all eligible Whatcom County residents (those 16 and older) have initiated vaccination and 43.18% of all eligible residents have completed vaccination.
Long-term care update
Whatcom County had nine new cases but no new related deaths associated with its long-term care facilities last week, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s latest COVID-19 Long-Term Care Report.
According to the report, which was released Tuesday and reflected data through Monday, May 10, Whatcom County long-term care facilities have had 372 confirmed cases during the pandemic. The number of COVID-related deaths in Whatcom’s long-term care facilities remained 46, according to the state’s data.
The 372 cases mean that long-term care facilities had 4.4% of the 8,476 total cases reported in Whatcom County by Monday, while the 46 related deaths represent 50% of the county’s death total (92).
Statewide, long-term care facilities have been associated with 20,260 cases (5% of the state’s total cases) and 2,674 related deaths (48% of the state’s death total).
Bellingham schools report cases
Bellingham Public Schools reported on its dashboard Tuesday that it had two new COVID-19 incidents in its schools, including:
▪ One new case reported the week of May 10-14 at Bellingham High. The incident required select contacts return to remote learning or quarantine with an expected return date of May 21.
▪ One new case reported the week of May 10-14 at Sunnyland Elementary. The incident required one class return to remote learning with an expected return date of May 18.
The district now has had 40 incidents and 44 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.
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Wednesday morning:
▪ The U.S. has more than 32.7 million reported cases, the most of any nation, and more than 582,000 deaths.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 159.7 million reported cases and 3.3 million deaths.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Monday evening:
▪ 384,929 confirmed cases, up 830 from the last report.
▪ 32,001 probable cases, up 395 from the last report.
▪ 22,954 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, up 88 from the last report.
▪ 6,731,274 total molecular tests, up 15,153 from the last report.
▪ 5,593 deaths related to COVID-19, up seven from the last report.
This story was originally published May 12, 2021 at 9:18 AM.
