While COVID infection rates drop in 3 Whatcom regions, another region climbs above 1,000
COVID-19 infection rates dropped in three of Whatcom County’s seven school district regions last week, but the two-week rate in one region climbed higher than 1,000 cases per 100,000 residents.
The region covered by the Lynden School District saw its infection rate reach quadruple digits, according to the latest location data released by the Whatcom County Health Department on Wednesday, Sept. 8. That barrier has only previously been crossed five times by Whatcom County regions during the pandemic — twice by Lynden (Jan. 19 and 26) and three times by Nooksack Valley (Jan. 12, 19 and 26) — since the health department began releasing location data last summer.
Despite the news about its infection rate last week, the Lynden region surpassed 50% of its total population initiating vaccination, leaving Mount Baker and Nooksack Valley as the only regions who have fewer than half their populations beginning vaccination.
Meanwhile, two-week infection rates in the Bellingham, Mount Baker and Nooksack Valley regions all decreased last week.
The county health department releases weekly data on the location of COVID-19 cases using school districts as geographical boundaries, including each region’s number of total cases during the pandemic, infection rate, hospitalization rate and percentage of residents who have initiated vaccination. Data in this week’s report was through Saturday, Sept. 4, and the infection and hospitalization rates reflect confirmed cases from Aug. 21 through Sept. 4.
Overall, Whatcom County saw a 5.0% growth in cases with 611 cases between Aug. 28 and Sept. 4 — down from the 633 new cases the county reported the previous week, according to the data.
With 1,244 cases in the past two weeks, Whatcom County has an overall infection rate of 553, based on 225,300 residents in the county. Three of the county’s regions had infection rates lower than that mark, according to the county’s data this week.
As of Sept. 4, the Washington State Department of Health reported that 64.0% of all Whatcom County residents had initiated vaccination and 58.2% had completed it.
Here is what the health department’s latest data showed for the seven regions in the county:
Bellingham: Up 4.4% (201 cases) since the Aug. 31 report to 4,762 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 484 last week to 404 this week. Approximately 72.9% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen 9.7 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 in the past two weeks.
Blaine: Up 8.9% (80 cases) since the Aug. 31 report to 978 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 488 last week to 610 this week. Approximately 64.7% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen 10.6 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks.
Ferndale: Up 4.7% (112 cases) since the Aug. 31 report to 2,518 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 528 last week to 584 this week. Approximately 61.2% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen 14.0 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks.
Lynden: Up 6.2% (128 cases) since the Aug. 31 report to 2,189 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 752 last week to 1,008 this week. Approximately 50.4% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen 65.0 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks.
Meridian: Up 3.5% (22 cases) since the Aug. 31 report to 644 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 250 last week to 294 this week. Approximately 59.7% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen no COVID-related hospitalizations in the past two weeks.
Mount Baker: Up 3.8% (27 cases) since the Aug. 31 report to 742 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 354 last week to 286 this week. Approximately 43.2% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen no COVID-related hospitalizations in the past two weeks.
Nooksack Valley: Up 4.1% (41 cases) since the Aug. 31 report to 1,041 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 697 last week to 610 this week. Approximately 46.8% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen 34.9 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks.
