Whatcom sees 2 COVID-related deaths on same day positive news comes from CDC and state
The CDC may have updated masking guidelines for those who are fully vaccinated and Gov. Jay Inslee may have announced Washington state will fully reopen by the end of June, but Whatcom County received a reminder that it is still in the midst of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic on Thursday.
On the same day that those encouraging announcements were made, Whatcom County learned that two more residents’ deaths have been linked to COVID-19 when the Washington State Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard was updated Thursday, May 13.
Additionally, Whatcom County saw 32 new confirmed COVID cases and one more related hospitalization, the state reported.
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 8,576 confirmed cases, 400 hospitalizations and 95 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data. An additional 339 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.
With the 32 new cases reported Thursday, Whatcom County’s daily average of new reported cases over the past week increased to 37.6, higher than the 32.9 average from one week earlier (April 30 through May 6).
The COVID-related deaths reported Thursday were for people who first tested positive for COVID-19 on April 11 and May 3, according to the state’s epidemiological curves, meaning Whatcom County has had three people who first tested positive in April die and two so far in May. No other information about the people who died, such as gender, age or hometown was reported.
During the pandemic, 1.1% of Whatcom’s 8,915 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 18 COVID-related patients on Friday — down one from Thursday.
Inslee announced on Thursday that all counties will return to Phase 3 of the state’s Healthy Washington — Roadmap to Recovery plan on Tuesday and that the state will fully reopen by June 30 — earlier if 70% of all residents 16 and older initiate vaccination.
Though Inslee’s announcement means numbers other than vaccinations no longer matter, Whatcom County would still be failing both metrics the state was previously using to determine if it would stay in Phase 3.
▪ The county has an infection rate of 228.9 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents between April 22 and May 5, according to the state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard, meaning Whatcom would have failed to meet the state guideline of 200 to remain in Phase 3.
▪ The county averaged 8.8 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents between April 26 and May 2, according to The Bellingham Herald’s analysis of the state epidemiological data, meaning Whatcom would have failed to meet the state guideline of 5.0 to remain in Phase 3.
Wednesday’s vaccination report said that Whatcom County has administered 160,263 doses and that 57.17% of all eligible Whatcom County residents (those 16 and older) have initiated vaccination and 43.65% of all eligible residents have completed vaccination.
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Friday morning:
▪ The U.S. has more than 32.8 million reported cases, than 584,000 deaths and 266.2 million vaccine doses administered — all most of any nation.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 161.2 million reported cases, 3.3 million deaths and 1.4 billion vaccine doses administered.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Thursday evening:
▪ 386,903 confirmed cases, up 1,141 from the last report.
▪ 32,479 probable cases, up 221 from the last report.
▪ 23,059 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, up 40 from the last report.
▪ 6,760,218 total molecular tests, up 13,924 from the last report.
▪ 5,626 deaths related to COVID-19, up 12 from the last report.
This story was originally published May 14, 2021 at 8:31 AM.
