Whatcom sees smallest COVID increase in 6 weeks, on pace to reach 70% vaccination Monday
Whatcom County saw its smallest reported increase in COVID-19 cases in more than six weeks, as the Washington State Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard showed just eight new confirmed cases on Wednesday, June 9.
Additionally, the state adjusted the number of COVID-related hospitalizations Whatcom County has seen during the pandemic down by six on Wednesday. Corrections to hospitalization and death totals have been common throughout the pandemic, as health officials receive more information and adjust data.
Overall, the state reports Whatcom County has seen 9,270 confirmed cases, 461 hospitalizations and 98 related deaths during the pandemic. An additional 402 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.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 24 patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, June 10, down two.
Whatcom County’s daily average of reported cases decreased to 22.4 and was down from the 26.7 average from one week earlier (May 28-June 3).
The county’s infection rate was 169.7 cases per 100,000 residents, based on the most recent complete data between May 19 and June 1, according to the state’s Risk Assessment dashboard. The county also averaged 4.8 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents between March 23 and 29, according to analysis by The Bellingham Herald of the latest complete hospitalization data on the state’s epidemiological curves
The state’s vaccination report on Wednesday showed Whatcom County has administered 209,762 vaccine doses and estimated that nearly two-thirds (66.55%) of the county’s residents 16 and older have initiated vaccination, while 58.56% have completed it.
Both averages are above the state, which reported it has administered 7,301,374 doses and that 63.88% of eligible residents have initiated vaccination and 56.04% have completed 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 state will still reopen, the governor said on Thursday, June 3.
Whatcom County had an average of 953 people per day initiate vaccination in the week, according to The Herald’s analysis of the state’s latest vaccination numbers, and at that rate, Whatcom County is expected to reach 70% of eligible residents initiating vaccination by Monday, June 14. For comparison, the state’s current daily rate of people initiating vaccination would not reach 70% until July 14.
Whatcom vaccine allocation
Whatcom County providers are expecting 550 vaccine doses from the state this week (June 6-12), according to the latest vaccine update from the Whatcom County Health Department Tuesday, June 8, though the health department said that number is not final and is expected to increase.
Last week, providers in the county administered 5,030 doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, according to the health department release.
The Community Vaccination Center at Bellingham Technical College will be open one more week, as local providers will shift their focus away from mass vaccination clinics to smaller, mobile and pop-up clinics, according to the release. The Community Vaccination Clinic will still be held Thursday, June 10 (6-8 p.m.); Saturday, June 12 (10 a.m. to noon); Wednesday, June 16 (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.); and Thursday, June 17 (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.).
Additionally, the health department reported there will be two vaccine clinics this weekend offering the Moderna vaccine:
▪ 5-7 p.m. Friday, June 11, at Lost Giants Cider Company (1200 Meador Ave.).
▪ Noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 12, at Kulshan Brewing Company (1538 Kentucky St.).
COVID variant update
Whatcom County saw its number of confirmed COVID-19 variant cases reduce by 39 last week last week, according to the latest SARS-CoV-2 Sequencing and Variants report by the Washington State Department of Health released Wednesday.
Whatcom County has at least one case of seven of the nine variants currently being tracked in Washington state.
Since its first confirmed variant case was reported Feb. 23, Whatcom has had a total of 295 variant cases through June 8, which accounts for 10.43% of Whatcom’s 2,828 cases reported since then and 3.19% of Whatcom’s pandemic total of 9,262 cases, according to analysis by The Herald.
The state most recent report for Whatcom County showed:
▪ 56 fewer B.1.1.7 (United Kingdom) variant cases — 204 total.
▪ No new B.1.351 (South Africa) variant cases — one total.
▪ 14 new P.1 (Brazil) variant cases — 62 total.
▪ No new B.1.427 (California) variant cases — five total.
▪ Two new B.1.429 (California) variant cases — 16 total.
▪ One new B.1.526 (New York) variant case — five total.
▪ No new B.1.525 (New York) variant cases — two total.
No cases of the P.2 (Brazil) and B.1.617 (India) variants have been reported in Whatcom County.
Long-term care update
Whatcom County had four new cases and one new related death associated with its long-term care facilities the past two weeks, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s latest COVID-19 Long-Term Care Report.
According to the report, which was released Tuesday and reflected data through Monday, June 7, Whatcom County long-term care facilities have had 380 confirmed cases during the pandemic. The number of COVID-related deaths in Whatcom’s long-term care facilities increased to 48, according to the state’s data.
The 380 cases mean that long-term care facilities had 4.1% of the 9,220 total cases reported in Whatcom County by Monday, while the 48 related deaths represent 49% of the county’s death total (98) on that date.
Statewide, long-term care facilities have been associated with 20,527 cases (5% of the state’s total cases) and 2,711 related deaths (46% of the state’s death total).
WA Notify update
A study by the University of Washington and the state Department of Health estimates that the state’s COVID-19 exposure notification tool saved between 30 and 120 lives and prevented approximately 6,000 COVID cases during the first four months it was operational, according to a news release.
“The goal for exposure notification is to help more people get the information and care they need more quickly so they can avoid spreading COVID-19 to others,” Deputy Secretary for COVID-19 Response Lacy Fehrenbach said in the release. “We are thrilled to see how well it has worked so far.”
The free app used Bluetooth technology available on phones to help track when a person who had activated the app may have been exposed to a person who tested positive for COVID and had also activated the app on their phone. More than 2 million people activated WA Notify since its launch on Nov. 30, 2020.
More than 14,000 users of WA Notify received a positive COVID test, according to the release, and any other users who may have been exposed to them were notified anonymously, allowing them to get tested, seek medical treatment or quarantine to help limit the chances they exposed others.
“When we launched WA Notify back in November, it was a new digital public health tool representing an opportunity to help control COVID-19 in Washington,” University of Washington School of Public Health Associate Dean Janet G. Baseman said in the release. “It’s incredibly exciting to now have some preliminary evidence of the value of WA Notify and to have a new tool to add to our public health toolbox for managing pandemics.”
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Thursday morning:
▪ The U.S. has more than 33.4 million reported cases, more than 598,000 deaths — both most of any nation — and 304.5 million vaccine doses administered.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 174.5 million reported cases, 3.7 million deaths and 2.2 billion vaccine doses administered.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Wednesday evening:
▪ 406,802 confirmed cases, up 403 from the last report.
▪ 35,296 probable cases, up 104 from the last report.
▪ 24,673 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, up 54 from the last report.
▪ 7,308,975 total molecular tests, up 14,741 from the last report.
▪ 5,793 deaths related to COVID-19, up eight from the last report.
