Whatcom sees 38 new COVID cases, as Bellingham schools report 7 incidents this week
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Whatcom County jumped by 38 and two more related hospitalizations were reported by the Washington State Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard on Thursday, May 20.
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 8,785 confirmed cases, 414 hospitalizations and 97 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data. An additional 354 probable cases — up four 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 38 new cases reported Wednesday, Whatcom County’s daily average of new reported cases over the past week increased to 29.9, according to an analysis by The Bellingham Herald, lower than the 37.6 average from one week earlier (May 7-13).
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 15 COVID-related patients on Friday — unchanged from Thursday.
On Tuesday, May 18, all counties throughout the state returned to Phase 3 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s Healthy Washington — Roadmap to Recovery plan. Additionally, Inslee announced May 13 that the state will fully reopen by June 30 — earlier if 70% of all residents 16 and older initiate vaccination.
Wednesday’s vaccination report showed Whatcom County has administered 170,859 vaccine doses and estimated that 58.80% of the county’s residents 16 and older have initiated vaccination, while 47.35% have completed it. Statewide, those averages were 59.21% initiating vaccination and 47.64% completing it.
Though data other than vaccinations is no longer measured in the reopening plan, Whatcom County would still be failing both metrics the state previously used to determine if it would stay in Phase 3.
▪ The county has an infection rate of 229.4 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents between April 29 and May 12 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 5.3 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents from May 3-9, according to The 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.
Bellingham schools report cases
Bellingham Public Schools reported on its dashboard that it had seven new COVID-19 incidents in its schools this week. The seven new incidents came after eight incidents were reported the week before, but all 15 of those incidents involved just a single COVID-19 case, according to the dashboard.
The seven reported this week included:
▪ A case reported at Bellingham High School required select contacts return to remote learning or quarantine with an expected return date of June 3.
▪ Another case reported at Bellingham High School required select contacts return to remote learning or quarantine with an expected return date of June 1.
▪ A case reported at Birchwood Elementary required one class return to remote learning with an expected return date of June 3.
▪ A case reported at Shuksan Middle School required select contacts return to remote learning with an expected return date of June 3.
▪ A case reported at Whatcom Middle School required select contacts return to remote learning with an expected return date of June 1.
▪ Another case reported at Birchwood Elementary required one class return to remote learning with an expected return date of June 1.
▪ Another case reported at Birchwood Elementary required one class return to remote learning with an expected return date of June 1.
The district now has had 52 incidents and 56 reported cases since it began returning to in-person learning. All 52 incidents required at least select contacts return to remote learning or quarantine.
The district estimates 9,190 students have returned for in-person learning and 1,600 staff members are working on site.
Blaine schools report case
The Blaine School District’s COVID-19 dashboard reported one case at Blaine Middle School the week of May 10-14.
The incident resulted in one class or cohort of students returning to remote learning or quarantine.
Overall, the district’s dashboard reports there have been 14 cases spread across 10 incidents since Blaine students began returning to classes. Six incidents have required some students and/or staff to temporarily return to remote learning or quarantine.
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Friday morning:
▪ The U.S. has more than 33.0 million reported cases, more than 588,000 deaths — both most of any nation — and 278.9 million vaccine doses administered, second only to China, which reports 449.5 million.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 165.6 million reported cases, 3.4 million deaths and 1.5 billion vaccine doses administered.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Thursday evening:
▪ 392,754 confirmed cases, up 829 from the last report.
▪ 33,094 probable cases, up 116 from the last report.
▪ 23,478 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, up 50 from the last report.
▪ 6,882,431 total molecular tests, up 25,060 from the last report.
▪ 5,690 deaths related to COVID-19, up 17 from the last report.
