COVID-19 infection rates increase in six of Whatcom County’s seven regions last week
Six of seven Whatcom County school district regions saw their COVID-19 infection rates increase last week, as the entire county is seeing case counts tick up yet again.
Only the region covered by the Nooksack Valley School District had its rate decrease last week, according to the latest location data released by the Whatcom County Health Department Tuesday, July 20.
Fortunately, none of Whatcom’s six other regions saw particularly large gains in the number of new COVID cases per 100,000 residents over the past two weeks, but the Blaine region did sneak back into triple digits and the Meridian region saw its first COVID cases in three weeks.
The Nooksack Valley and Mount Baker regions saw their percentage of residents who had initiated vaccination move above 40%, meaning all seven regions are seeing at least that mark, and the Bellingham region is closing in on having 70% of its total population initiate vaccination.
Through data reported Wednesday, July 21, on the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 dashboard, Whatcom County has seen 9,694 confirmed cases, 492 related hospitalizations and 107 related deaths during the pandemic.
The county health department releases weekly data on the location of COVID-19 cases using school districts as geographical boundaries, including each region’s number of total cases during the pandemic, infection rate, hospitalization rate and percentage of residents who have initiated vaccination. Data in this week’s report was through Saturday, July 17, and the infection and hospitalization rates reflect confirmed cases from July 3-17.
Overall, Whatcom County saw a 0.9% growth in cases (92 cases) between July 11 and July 17 — up from the 50 new cases the county reported the previous week.
With 142 cases in the past two weeks, Whatcom County has an overall infection rate of 63, based on 225,300 residents in the county. Three of the county’s regions had infection rates lower than that mark, according to the county’s data this week.
As of July 17, the Washington State Department of Health reported that 60.2% of all Whatcom County residents had initiated vaccination and 55.0% had completed it.
Here is what the health department’s latest data showed for the seven regions in the county:
Bellingham: Up 0.9% (32 cases) since the July 14 report to 3,563 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 24 last week to 39 this week. Approximately 69.3% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen 0.8 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 in the past two weeks.
Blaine: Up 2.2% (15 cases) since the July 14 report to 689 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 74 last week to 101 this week. Approximately 59.8% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen 10.6 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks.
Ferndale: Up 1.0% (20 cases) since the July 14 report to 2,035 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 67 last week to 98 this week. Approximately 56.0% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen 5.6 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks.
Lynden: Up 0.7% (12 cases) since the July 14 report to 1,773 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 51 last week to 74 this week. Approximately 45.4% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen 4.7 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks.
Meridian: Up 0.5% (three cases) since the July 14 report to 557 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from zero last week to 18 this week. Approximately 56.8% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen no COVID-related hospitalizations in the past two weeks.
Mount Baker: Up 1.6% (nine cases) since the July 14 report to 588 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 68 last week to 75 this week. Approximately 40.2% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen 6.2 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks.
Nooksack Valley: Up 0.1% (one case) since the July 14 report to 866 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 61 last week to 26 this week. Approximately 40.2% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen no COVID-related hospitalizations in the past two weeks.
