Only one Whatcom region sees COVID rate increase; another passes vaccination milestone
Six of Whatcom County’s seven school district regions saw their COVID-19 infection rates decrease last week, and one of those six regions also surpassing having half of its residents initiate vaccination.
The region covered by the Mount Baker School District was the only area within Whatcom County to see its two-week total of new COVID-19 infections per 100,000 residents increase last week, according to data released Tuesday, May 25, by the Whatcom County Health Department.
But Mount Baker was still one of four regions to have a rate lower than 200, joining Bellingham, Blaine and Ferndale.
Meanwhile, the Blaine region joined Bellingham by surpassing 50% of its residents initiating vaccination in the second week the health department has released regional vaccination data. A third region — Meridian — isn’t far from also eclipsing that mark.
“At this point, we do not have enough information to draw any conclusions about the relationship between current infection rates and vaccination rates by sub-county regions,” Whatcom County Health Department spokesperson Melissa Morin told The Bellingham Herald in an email. “Individual behaviors (such as mask-wearing and physical distancing), vaccination rates, population density, and the baseline infection rates are all contributing factors to the current infection rate, but we can’t parse out the relative contributions of those factors in each area of the county.
“What we do know is that vaccination can only have a positive effect in lowering infection rates over time. The infection rate among the vaccinated population is significantly less than the infection rate in the non-vaccinated population. This is direct evidence that the vaccine is working to reduce COVID-19 prevalence.”
The county health department releases weekly data on the location of COVID-19 cases using school districts as geographical boundaries, including each region’s number of total cases during the pandemic and its infection rate. Data in Tuesday’s report was through Saturday, May 22, and the infection rates reflect confirmed cases from May 9-22.
Overall, Whatcom County saw a 2.4% growth in cases (209 cases) between May 16 and 22 — down from the 3.8% growth and 315 new cases the county reported the previous week.
With 524 cases the past two weeks, Whatcom County has an overall infection rate of 232.9, based on 225,300 residents in the county. Five of the county’s regions had infection rates lower than that mark, according to the county’s data this week.
Here is what the health department’s latest data showed for the seven regions in the county:
Bellingham: Up 2.3% (69 cases) since the May 18 report to 3,131 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 112 last week to 106 this week. Bellingham had the county’s highest vaccination rate at 60.8% of residents initiating vaccination.
Blaine: Up 1.7% (10 cases) since the May 18 report to 589 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 210 last week to 148 this week. Blaine had the county’s second-highest vaccination rate at 52.0% of residents initiating vaccination.
Ferndale: Up 1.2% (21 cases) since the May 18 report to 1,761 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 221 last week to 185 this week. Ferndale had the county’s fourth-highest vaccination rate at 41.6% of residents initiating vaccination.
Lynden: Up 3.9% (59 cases) since the May 18 report to 1,553 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 741 last week to 613 this week. Lynden had the county’s third-lowest vaccination rate at 37.4% of residents initiating vaccination.
Meridian: Up 4.1% (19 cases) since the May 18 report to 488 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 455 last week to 390 this week. Meridian had the county’s third-highest vaccination rate at 48.2% of residents initiating vaccination.
Mount Baker: Up 3.6% (17 cases) since the May 18 report to 489 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 120 last week to 177 this week. Mount Baker had the county’s second-lowest vaccination rate at 32.7% of residents initiating vaccination.
Nooksack Valley: Up 1.8% (14 cases) since the May 18 report to 194 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 298 last week to 208 this week. Nooksack Valley had the county’s lowest vaccination rate at 32.2% of residents initiating vaccination.
As of Monday, the state reported that 61.3% of all Whatcom County residents had initiated vaccination.
