Whatcom’s surpassing milestone a reminder ‘that the coronavirus isn’t done with us’
On the 512th day since it saw its first confirmed case of COVID-19 reported, Whatcom County surpassed 10,000 confirmed cases.
With 31 cases reported Wednesday, Aug. 4, Whatcom county surpassed the milestone with 10,009 confirmed cases, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID dashboard. It becomes the 10th county in the state with at least 10,000 confirmed cases.
“We passed a promising milestone this week: seeing 70% of eligible Whatcom residents initiate vaccination,” Whatcom County Health Department spokesperson Scarlet Tang told The Bellingham Herald in an email. “But 10,000 COVID cases is a milestone that nobody wanted to pass.
“This is a reminder that the pandemic isn’t over, and that the coronavirus isn’t done with us.”
In addition to the 10,009 confirmed cases, the state reported Wednesday that Whatcom has an additional 475 probable cases, 511 COVID-related hospitalizations and 109 related deaths.
St. Joseph’s hospital in Bellingham reported that it was treating 10 COVID patients on Thursday, Aug. 5 — up two from Wednesday’s report.
The number of cases reported daily has increased the past two weeks, as Whatcom is now averaging 20.9 cases reported per day over the past week — double what it was averaging in early- to mid-July.
A large increase in the number of delta variant cases — Whatcom jumped from 11 confirmed cases to 36 last week, according to the state reports — is at least partly to blame for those increases.
“The same measures that got us onto the road to recovery in the first place will keep us moving forward,” Tang said. “Masks still work as a layer of protection, and vaccination is still the best thing you can do to protect yourself and everyone around you from every variant of COVID-19.”
The Whatcom County Health Department reported earlier this week that approximately 97.2% of all COVID cases in the county and 97.6% of all COVID-related hospitalizations from February through March were in unvaccinated residents.
The state reported Wednesday that Whatcom County has administered 236,446 vaccine doses and that 61.3% of Whatcom’s total population has initiated vaccination and 56.1% has completed it — both percentages are ahead of the state averages.
Another barrier passed
Here is a look at how long it took Whatcom County to surpass barriers for total number of reported confirmed cases during the pandemic:
▪ First case: March 10, 2020
▪ 1,000th case: Aug. 12, 2020 (155 days).
▪ 2,000th case: Nov. 20, 2020 (100 days).
▪ 3,000th case: Dec. 17, 2020 (27 days).
▪ 4,000th case: Jan. 8, 2021 (22 days).
▪ 5,000th case: Jan. 21, 2021 (13 days).
▪ 6,000th case: Feb. 8, 2021 (18 days).
▪ 7,000th case: March 16, 2021 (36 days).
▪ 8,000th case: April 28, 2021 (43 days).
▪ 9,000th case: May 28, 2021 (31 days).
▪ 10,000th case: Aug. 4, 2021 (67 days).
