Whatcom’s fourth COVID-related death reported this week along with 14 new confirmed cases
Whatcom County saw its fourth death related to COVID-19 reported this week on the Washington State Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard Thursday, June 17, along with 14 new confirmed cases and another related hospitalization.
Overall, the state reports Whatcom County has seen 9,371 confirmed cases, 465 hospitalizations and 103 related deaths during the pandemic. An additional 409 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.
The death reported Thursday was for a person who first tested positive for COVID on May 24, according to the state’s epidemiological curves — the ninth 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 1.1% of Whatcom’s 9,780 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 14 new reported cases, Whatcom County’s daily average of reported cases decreased to 11.9 over the past week, and that was down from the 20.9 average from one week earlier (June 4-10).
The county’s infection rate was 129.4 cases per 100,000 residents, based on the most recent complete data between May 27 and June 9, according to the state’s Risk Assessment dashboard — Whatcom’s lowest mark since Nov. 23. The county also averaged 11.4 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents between May 29 and June 6 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.
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 June 3.
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Friday morning:
▪ The U.S. has more than 33.5 million reported cases, more than 600,000 deaths — both most of any nation — and 314.6 million vaccine doses administered.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 177.5 million reported cases, 3.8 million deaths and 2.5 billion vaccine doses administered.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Thursday evening:
▪ 410,195 confirmed cases, up 375 from the last report.
▪ 35,929 probable cases, up 63 from the last report.
▪ 24,930 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, up 19 from the last report.
▪ 7,392,613 total molecular tests, up 23,674 from the last report.
▪ 5,810 deaths related to COVID-19, up nine from the last report.
This story was originally published June 18, 2021 at 7:55 AM.
