Whatcom sees another COVID-related death, as 26 confirmed cases reported Wednesday
In addition to seeing 26 new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported on the Washington State Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard Wednesday, June 16, Whatcom County’s coronavirus-related death total increased by one and its hospitalizations jumped two.
Overall, the state reports Whatcom County has seen 9,357 confirmed cases, 464 hospitalizations and 102 related deaths during the pandemic. An additional 406 probable cases — unchanged from the last report — have been reported in Whatcom County during the pandemic, resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
The death reported Wednesday was for a person who first tested positive for COVID on May 28, according to the state’s epidemiological curves — the eighth person to first test positive in May and later die, which is up from five in April. The county has not yet had anyone who tested positive in June die.
No other information about the person who died, such as gender, age or hometown was reported.
The state reports that 1.0% of Whatcom’s 9,763 total cases (confirmed and probable cases combined) have resulted in death — better than the statewide 1.3% average.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating six patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, June 17, unchanged from the previous report.
With the 26 new reported cases, Whatcom County’s daily average of reported cases increased to 12.4 over the past week, but that was down from the 22.4 average from one week earlier (June 3-9).
The county’s infection rate was 139.9 cases per 100,000 residents, based on the most recent complete data between May 26 and June 8, according to the state’s Risk Assessment dashboard — Whatcom’s lowest mark since April 10. The county also averaged 11.0 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents between May 28 and June 5 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 217,459 vaccine doses and estimated that 67.9% of the county’s residents 16 and older have initiated vaccination, while 60.6% have completed it.
Both averages are above the state, which reported it has administered 7,528,340 doses and that 65.0% of eligible residents have initiated vaccination and 57.9% 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 874 people per day initiate vaccination in the last 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 Saturday, June 19, based on 2020 Washington State Office of Financial Management population estimates. For comparison, the state’s current daily rate of people initiating vaccination would not reach 70% until June 26.
Long-term care update
Whatcom County had two new cases and no new related deaths associated with its long-term care facilities last week, 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 14, Whatcom County long-term care facilities have had 382 confirmed cases during the pandemic. The number of COVID-related deaths in Whatcom’s long-term care facilities remained at 48, according to the state’s data.
The 382 cases mean that long-term care facilities had 4.1% of the 9,318 total cases reported in Whatcom County by Monday, while the 48 related deaths represent 47.5% of the county’s death total (101) on that date.
Statewide, long-term care facilities have been associated with 20,625 cases (5% of the state’s total cases) and 2,646related deaths (46% of the state’s death total).
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 600,000 deaths — both most of any nation — and 312.6 million vaccine doses administered.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 177.1 million reported cases, 3.8 million deaths and 2.4 billion vaccine doses administered.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Wednesday evening:
▪ 409,820 confirmed cases, up 459 from the last report.
▪ 35,866 probable cases, up 72 from the last report.
▪ 24,911 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, up 32 from the last report.
▪ 7,368,939 total molecular tests, down 25,813 from the last report.
▪ 5,801 deaths related to COVID-19, up one from the last report.
