As hospital sets new pandemic record for COVID patients, Whatcom sees another big weekend
Whatcom County saw another triple-digit increase in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases over the weekend, while St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported a new record high for COVID-related patients.
Whatcom had 142 new confirmed cases reported by the Washington State Department of Health COVID Dashboard on Monday, Aug. 16, marking the second straight Monday Whatcom has seen a weekend increase of at least 100 cases reported.
St. Joseph hospital reported that it was treating 37 COVID patients on Tuesday, Aug. 18, up six from Monday and breaking the old record high of 34 it set on Saturday, Aug. 14, which was three higher than the previous pandemic record.
The state dashboard reported Monday that Whatcom’s COVID-related hospitalizations increased by nine over the weekend to 543 total during the pandemic, but 50 of those have been reported in the past three weeks.
The latest report on the state dashboard shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 10,533 confirmed cases during the pandemic. Whatcom’s infection rate continued to grow to 211.8 cases per 100,000 residents according to the state’s most recently completed epidemiological data between July 26 and Aug. 8, the state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard reported. That was up from a rate of 197.7 reported on Friday and the first time Whatcom had topped 200 since it was at 200.9 on June 3.
▪ An additional 556 probable cases during the pandemic — up 27 from the last report — resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
▪ 109 COVID-related deaths during the pandemic — unchanged from the last report.
▪ 300,284 tests (molecular and antigen combined) have been performed during the pandemic — up 1,661 from the last report.
▪ 240,325 vaccinations had been administered during the pandemic — up 970 from the last report. The state reports 62.3% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 56.9% has completed it.
Additionally, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Data Tracker Monday listed Whatcom’s level of transmission as “High” — the highest of four categories. Across Washington state, the CDC lists 37 of 39 counties in the “High” transmission category.
Also, Lighthouse Mission Ministries told The Bellingham Herald that it had seven more temporary residents at Base Camp test positive for COVID-19 on Monday evening, bringing the total number of guests who have tested positive during a recent outbreak to 31.
This story was originally published August 17, 2021 at 9:43 AM.
