Whatcom County sees 31 new COVID-19 cases as hospitalizations rise, three school cases
Whatcom County saw 31 new confirmed COVID-19 cases in the latest update on the Washington State Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard Saturday, June 5.
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 9,204 confirmed cases, 448 hospitalizations — an increase of six — and 99 related deaths during the pandemic. An additional 394 probable cases have been reported in Whatcom County during the pandemic, resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 27 COVID-related patients on Sunday, June 6 — up six from a day earlier. PeaceHealth has adequate supply to distribute 425 first doses of the Pfizer vaccine this week and 1,300 second doses, according to a news release.
However, Whatcom County’s daily average of reported cases decreased to 22.4 from the 31.4 average from one week earlier.
The state vaccination report Friday showed Whatcom County has administered 205,046 vaccine doses and estimated that 65.73% of the county’s residents 16 and older have initiated vaccination, while 57.24% have completed it.
Whatcom County Health Department on Friday, June 4, said 67% of county residents aged 16 and older are known to be vaccinated with the addition of than 4,700 vaccinations by Lummi Tribal Health added to state records.
Statewide, those averages were 63.06% initiating vaccination and 54.65% completing it.
On 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.
If the 70% goal isn’t met, the governor on Thursday, June 3, said the state will still reopen, though he’d prefer it with more vaccinated.
Though data other than vaccinations is no longer measured in the reopening plan, Whatcom County would be making one of two metrics the state previously used to determine if it would stay in Phase 3.
▪ The county has an infection rate of 193.9 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents between May 14-27, the latest data available, according to the state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard, meaning Whatcom would have met 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 19-25, according to The Bellingham 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.
Bellingham schools report cases
Bellingham Public Schools reported on its dashboard Sunday that it had three recent COVID-19 incidents in its schools, increasing the overall number to 64 cases.
The three new reported cases included:
Two cases reported at Parkview Elementary required two classes return to remote learning or quarantine with an expected return date of June 14.
A case reported at Cordata Elementary required one class to return to remote learning or quarantine with an expected return date of June 14.
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Monday morning:
▪ The U.S. has more than 33.36 million reported cases, more than 597,631 deaths — both most of any nation — and 301.04 million vaccine doses administered, second only to China, which reports 777.87 million.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 173.37 million reported cases, 3.73 million deaths and 2.13 billion vaccine doses administered.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Saturday afternoon:
▪ 405,174 confirmed cases, up 701 from the last report.
▪ 34,883 probable cases, up 93 from the last report.
▪ 24,465 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, up 25 from the last report.
▪ 7,249,398 total molecular tests, up 19,172 from the last report.
▪ 5,836 deaths related to COVID-19 reported Friday, June 4. Deaths are not reported on weekends.
