Whatcom County sees 2 new COVID-related deaths and its hospitalization count grow Thursday
Whatcom County continued to see its number of people seriously effected by COVID-19 increase, as the state reported 11 additional COVID-related hospitalizations and two new deaths linked to the respiratory illness.
Whatcom now has seen 597 COVID-related hospitalizations and 116 COVID-related deaths during the pandemic, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard on Thursday, Sept. 2.
The large increase in hospitalizations Thursday was, at least in part, due to a statewide “significant backlog of hospitalizations reported in the past week,” according to the state.
But Whatcom has had 21 COVID-related hospitalizations — or 3.5% of its pandemic total — reported in the past week.
The county’s weekly hospitalization rate for the most recently completed epidemiological data (Aug. 18-24) stands at 8.77 per 100,000 residents. While that is more than double what the rate was one month ago (3.51 for July 18-24), it’s still a long way from Whatcom’s pandemic high of 14.91 for Jan. 6-12.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported Friday, Sept. 3, that it was treating 35 patients with COVID-related symptoms — up three from the last report, but still four fewer than the pandemic-high of 39 treated Monday, Aug. 30. The hospital reported that between Aug. 25 and Sept. 2 approximately 12% of its COVID-related patients were vaccinated.
The deaths reported Thursday, meanwhile, were for people who first tested positive for COVID on July 26 and Aug. 9, according to the state’s epidemiological curves. Whatcom has now had three epidemiological deaths in July and seven in the month of August after there were three in June. The county’s high for the pandemic was 26 deaths in March 2020, while it had no deaths in August 2020.
No other information about the people who died, such as their vaccination status, age, genders or hometowns, was reported.
But the state reports that 0.9% of Whatcom County’s 12,573 total COVID cases (confirmed and probable combined) have resulted in death, which is better than the state’s 1.2% average.
The latest report on the state dashboard also shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 11,781 confirmed cases during the pandemic — up 72 cases from the last report.
▪ An additional 792 probable COVID cases during the pandemic — up 16 from the last report — resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
▪ A 14-day infection rate of 489.47 cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological case data for Aug. 11-24 — up from 467.98 from the last report (Aug. 10-23) and the highest rate the county has seen since Jan. 17 (518.86).
▪ 318,079 tests (molecular and antigen combined) performed during the pandemic — up 1,033 from the last report.
▪ 246,524 vaccinations administered during the pandemic. The state reports 63.7% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 58.0% has completed it.
Additionally, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Data Tracker Friday 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 94.1% of all counties nationwide were “High.”
Bellingham schools report case
The Bellingham Public Schools COVID-19 dashboard reported a third reported case among its staff and students.
The most recent case was reported the week of Aug. 30 at Northern Heights Elementary School, and the district reported close contacts have been notified.
COVID dashboards for the Blaine, Lynden and Mount Baker school districts have not reported any new cases this school year, while COVID case information could not be found on the websites for the Ferndale, Meridian or Nooksack Valley school districts.
This story was originally published September 3, 2021 at 8:39 AM.
