Whatcom vaccinations fall off track for 70% by June 30, as 21 new COVID-19 cases reported
Whatcom County trends no longer show 70% of residents being vaccinated by June 30, the date Gov. Jay Inslee set for full reopening in his Healthy Washington — Roadmap to Recovery plan. The county also saw 21 new COVID-19 cases and nine new hospitalizations in the most recent numbers reported on the Washington State Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard.
The state’s latest report on Wednesday, June 3, showed Whatcom County had a total of 9,105 confirmed cases, 439 hospitalizations and 98 related deaths during the pandemic, according to state data. An additional 385 probable cases — up three 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 new cases, Whatcom County’s daily average of new reported cases over the past week decreased to 22.1, lower than the 28.7 average from one week earlier.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 18 COVID-related patients on Thursday, June 3 — down two from a day earlier.
During the pandemic, 1.0% of Whatcom’s 9,490 total cases (confirmed and probable cases combined) have resulted in death — better than the statewide 1.3% average of total cases.
The latest vaccination report, from Wednesday, showed Whatcom County has administered 193,767 vaccine doses and estimated that 63.01% of the county’s residents 16 and older have initiated vaccination, while 54.34% have completed it. Statewide, those averages were 62.70% initiating vaccination and 54.0% completing it.
On May 18 all counties throughout the state returned to Phase 3 of 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.
Though data other than vaccinations is no longer measured in the reopening plan, Whatcom County would be failing both of two metrics the state previously used to determine if it would stay in Phase 3.
▪ The county has an infection rate of 200.9 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents between May 12-25, the latest data available, according to the state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard, meaning Whatcom would have missed the state guideline of 200 or less to remain in Phase 3.
▪ The county averaged 5.3 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents from May 16-22, according to The Herald’s analysis of the state epidemiological data, meaning Whatcom would have missed the state guideline of 5.0 or less to remain in Phase 3.
▪ Based on the latest vaccination report, The Herald estimates Whatcom County still needs 13,175 more residents 16 and older to initiate vaccination to reach 70% of the eligible population. In the last seven days of data, an average of 410 Whatcom County residents per day initiated vaccination. At that rate, it would take the county until July 3 (about 32 days) to reach 70% of all residents 16 and older initiating vaccination. The average number of vaccinations dropped from 464 from the last report and is the first time the county is not on trend to be 70% vaccinated by June 30. It should take the state until July 7 to reach 70% vaccination at its current daily rate.
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Wednesday night:
▪ The U.S. has more than 33.30 million reported cases, more than 595,802 deaths — both most of any nation — and 296.69 million vaccine doses administered, second only to China, which reports 661.90 million.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 171.51 million reported cases, 3.68 million deaths and 1.96 billion vaccine doses administered.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Wednesday evening:
▪ 403,194 confirmed cases, up 658 from the last report.
▪ 34,483 probable cases, up 35 from the last report.
▪ 24,315 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, up 61 from the last report.
▪ 7,198,704 total molecular tests, up 9,209 from the last report.
▪ 5,801 deaths related to COVID-19, up 12 from the last report.
This story was originally published June 3, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
