On day Inslee expands mask mandate, Whatcom County sees 70 new confirmed COVID cases
Whatcom County saw 70 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and 22 additional probable cases reported on the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID Data Dashboard Wednesday, Aug. 18.
It is the second straight day the county’s pandemic total of confirmed cases has increased by 70 cases, as there have now been 10,673 confirmed cases in Whatcom. Whatcom has an additional 597 probable cases during the pandemic, resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
The increase came the same day Gov. Jay Inslee expanded the state indoor mask mandate to include everyone again in indoor settings, regardless of vaccine status, in an effort to slow the disease spread.
Whatcom’s two-week infection rate — its number of confirmed cases per 100,000 residents — climbed to 237.7 between July 28 and Aug. 10 (the most recently completed epidemiological data), according to the state’s Risk Assessment Dashboard. That’s the highest mark the county has seen since it registered a rate of 239.7 on March 12.
Even though the county’s pandemic total of COVID-related hospitalizations decreased by one to 553, Whatcom’s weekly hospitalization rate climbed to 7.9 COVID-related patients per 100,000 between Aug. 1 and 7, according to The Bellingham Herald’s analysis of the state’s most recently completed epidemiological data for that statistic.
St. Joseph hospital reported that it was treating 31 COVID patients on Thursday, Aug. 19, “the vast majority without vaccine,” hospital spokesperson Bev Mayhew told The Herald. Though an increase of one from Wednesday, the 31 cases were still six fewer than the pandemic record 37 it treated Tuesday, Aug. 17.
“We’ve got the tools to get through this together, so please mask up when around people outside your household and get vaccinated. #WeveGotThisWhatcom!” a Whatcom County Government Facebook post Thursday morning read.
The latest report on the state dashboard also shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 109 COVID-related deaths during the pandemic — unchanged from the last report.
▪ 302,169 tests (molecular and antigen combined) have been performed during the pandemic — up 707 from the last report.
▪ 240,73 vaccinations had been administered during the pandemic — up 448 from the last report. The state reports 62.4% 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 Thursday listed Whatcom’s level of transmission as “High” — the highest of four categories. All 39 counties in Washington state were listed in the “High” transmission category.
Also, Lighthouse Mission Ministries told The Herald Wednesday that five more temporary residents at the Base Camp emergency shelter in Bellingham tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the total for the outbreak since Friday, Aug. 13, to 36 cases.
This story was originally published August 19, 2021 at 10:10 AM.
