Eight new COVID-19 cases in Whatcom County, state reports Friday
Whatcom County saw eight new confirmed COVID-19 cases and no new related hospitalizations or deaths added to its totals on the Washington State Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard Friday, July 2.
Overall, Whatcom County has seen 9,506 confirmed cases, 476 hospitalizations and 103 related deaths during the pandemic, according to the dashboard. An additional 425 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.
Whatcom’s infection rate decreased to 74.1 — its lowest mark since it had a rate of 71.0 on Nov. 19 — based on the state’s most recent complete epidemiological data between June 11 and 24, according to the state’s Risk Assessment dashboard.
With the eight new cases reported, Whatcom’s daily average of reported cases decreased to 7.4 over the past week, but that was down from the 9.6 average from one week earlier (June 19-25).
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating nine patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, July 2, up two from the previous report.
The county averaged 3.11 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents between June 15-21, 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 Friday showed the county has now administered 226,452 vaccine doses and estimated that 69.4% of the county’s residents 16 and older have initiated vaccination, while 63.2% have completed it.
School outbreaks in Whatcom
Whatcom County schools had nine COVID-19 outbreaks creating 33 cases during the 2020-21 school year, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Outbreaks in Washington State K-12 Schools report released Wednesday, June 30.
Statewide there were 301 outbreaks creating 1,139 cases between Aug. 1, 2020, and May 31, 2021, according to the report. None of those cases led to death, but 11 cases did result in hospitalization.
The highest number of outbreaks — defined as two or more confirmed cases that are epidemiologically linked — were reported in April and May, with 63 and 57 outbreaks, respectively, the report stated, adding that that increase coincided with Gov. Jay Inslee’s proclamation requiring in-person education for K-12 schools starting on April 15.
Not all of the cases associated to the outbreaks were students, with 35% of the cases in people over 18.
Numbers elsewhere
New coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Friday night:
▪ The U.S. has more than 33.69 million reported cases, more than 605,308 deaths — both most of any nation — and 327.8 million vaccine doses administered.
▪ Worldwide, there are more than 183 million reported cases, 3.96 million deaths and 3.12 billion vaccine doses administered.
Washington state reported these numbers from the Department of Health Friday afternoon:
▪ 415,515 confirmed cases, up 336 from the last report.
▪ 36,968 probable cases, up 75 from the last report.
▪ 25,538 coronavirus-related hospitalizations, up four from the last report.
▪ 7,613,620 total molecular tests, up 18,421 from the last report.
▪ 5,939deaths related to COVID-19, up one from the last report.
This story was originally published July 3, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
