Whatcom still hasn’t seen delta variant, as county’s case and vaccination rates slow
Whatcom County saw its smallest reported increase in new COVID-19 cases on the Washington State Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard Wednesday, June 23, with just six more confirmed cases reported. The county also had three COVID-related hospitalizations reported, but no deaths.
Overall, the state reports Whatcom County has seen 9,433 confirmed cases, 471 hospitalizations and 103 related deaths during the pandemic. An additional 420 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.
The six new cases reported Wednesday were the smallest increase the county has seen since it had just two reported on April 19. Whatcom’s daily average of reported cases decreased to 10.9 over the past week, and that was down from the 12.9 average from one week earlier (June 10-16).
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating seven patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, June 24, unchanged from the previous report.
The county’s infection rate was 107.9 cases per 100,000 residents — its lowest mark since it was 84.3 on Nov. 20 — based on the most recent complete data between June 2 and 15, according to the state’s Risk Assessment dashboard. The county also averaged 4.8 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents between June 6 and 12 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 demand for the vaccine in Whatcom County has continued to slow. The county has now administered 221,825 vaccine doses (a 0.27% increase from the last report) and estimated that 68.6% of the county’s residents 16 and older have initiated vaccination, while 61.8% have completed it.
Both percentages were ahead of the state, which reported it has administered 7,681,944 doses and that 65.8% of residents 16 and older have initiated vaccination and 59.3% 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 Wednesday, 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.
Whatcom County had an average of 236 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 July 2, 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 July 24.
COVID variant update
Whatcom County saw its number of confirmed COVID-19 variant cases increase by 120 last week, according to the latest SARS-CoV-2 Sequencing and Variants report by the Washington State Department of Health released Wednesday, but Whatcom still has not had any confirmed cases of the delta variant.
Whatcom County has at least one case of seven of the 12 variants currently being tracked in Washington state.
Since its first confirmed variant case was reported Feb. 23, Whatcom has had a total of 502 variant cases through June 22, which accounts for 16.77% of Whatcom’s 2,993 cases reported since then and 5.33% of Whatcom’s pandemic total of 9,427 cases, according to analysis by The Herald.
Whatcom’s most noticeable increase last week was of the P.1 (Brazil) variant — also known as the Gamma variant — which increased nearly 50% for the second straight week. The variant, which is believed to spread easier, now accounts for 3.14% of all Whatcom cases since Feb. 23.
Whatcom also saw a 28% increase in the number of B.1.1.7 (U.K) variant cases last week, and that variant accounts for 10.86% of all Whatcom cases since Feb. 23.
But the county still has not seen any cases of the B.1.617.2 (Indian) variant — or delta variant, which also is thought to spread much quicker and is expected to become the dominant strain in the U.S. this summer — according to the report.
The state’s most recent variants report for Whatcom County last week showed:
▪ 71 new B.1.1.7 Alpha (United Kingdom) variant cases — 325 total.
▪ No new B.1.351 (South Africa) variant cases — one total.
▪ 42 new P.1 (Brazil) variant cases — 133 total.
▪ One new B.1.427 (California) variant cases — six total.
▪ One new B.1.429 (California) variant cases — 22 total.
▪ Five new B.1.526 (New York) variant cases — 13 total.
▪ No new B.1.525 (New York) variant cases — two total.
In addition to the B.1.617.2 (delta), no cases of the P.2 Gamma (Brazil), B.1.526.1 (New York), B.1.617.1 (kappa) or B.1.617.3 (India) variants have been found in Whatcom County, according to the report.
Long-term care update
Whatcom County had another new COVID-19 case but 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 Wednesday and reflected data through Monday, June 21, Whatcom County long-term care facilities have had 383 confirmed cases during the pandemic. The number of COVID-related deaths related to Whatcom’s long-term care facilities remained at 48, according to the state’s data.
The 383 cases mean that long-term care facilities had 4.1% of the total cases reported in Whatcom County as of Monday, while the 48 related deaths represent 46.6% of the county’s death total (103).
Statewide, long-term care facilities have been associated with 20,665 cases (5% of the state’s total cases) and 2,651 related deaths (45% 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 33.5 million reported cases, more than 602,000 deaths — both most of any nation — and 319.5 million vaccine doses administered.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 179.7 million reported cases, 3.8 million deaths and 2.7 billion vaccine doses administered.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Wednesday evening:
▪ 412,581 confirmed cases, up 723 from the last report.
▪ 36,364 probable cases, up 80 from the last report.
▪ 25,287 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, up 206 from the last report.
▪ 7,467,478 total molecular tests, up 13,059 from the last report.
▪ 5,889 deaths related to COVID-19, up 46 from the last report.
