Whatcom sees largest increase of reported COVID-19 cases of pandemic with big weekend
Whatcom County saw its largest reported increase in new confirmed COVID-19 cases during the nearly 18-month pandemic on Monday.
Whatcom’s confirmed case total increased by 248 over the weekend, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard on Aug. 30. The increase represents three days of new cases reported by the state on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The county’s largest reported increase prior to Monday was 239 new cases reported Jan. 11, which represented two days of reported cases. It’s largest reported increase for a single day was 171 cases reported Jan. 7.
Monday’s report also marked Whatcom’s fourth straight triple-digit weekend increase, following 113 cases reported Aug. 9, 142 cases reported Aug. 16 and 143 cases reported Aug. 23, signaling the county likely has not yet seen a peak in its fifth surge of the pandemic.
Whatcom now has had 11,542 confirmed cases reported during the pandemic.
An additional 758 probable cases — resulting from a positive antigen test not confirmed by a molecular test — have been reported by the state, which was an increase of 34 from the previous report.
Whatcom’s 14-day infection rate climbed to 451.3 between Aug. 9 and Aug. 22, according to the most recently completed epidemiological data on the state’s dashboard. That is the highest mark the county has seen since it was at 457.9 Jan. 7-20 as it was descending from a pandemic peak of 528.1 Jan. 2-15.
The latest report on the state dashboard also shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 584 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic — up six from the last report. St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating a record 39 patients with COVID-related symptoms on Monday.
▪ 114 COVID-related deaths during the pandemic — unchanged from the last report.
▪ 315,474 tests (molecular and antigen combined) performed during the pandemic — up 4,278 from the last report.
▪ 246,089 vaccinations administered during the pandemic — up 1,598 from the last report. The state reports 63.6% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 57.9% has completed it.
Additionally, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Data Tracker Tuesday, Aug. 31, 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, and 93.8% of all counties nationwide were “High.”
This story was originally published August 31, 2021 at 8:47 AM.
