Serious COVID-19 cases persist, as Whatcom sees 2 deaths, 14 hospitalizations reported
Whatcom County continues to see increasing numbers of serious COVID-19 infections, as more hospitalizations and deaths linked to the disease were reported Thursday.
Whatcom saw 14 new COVID-related hospitalizations and two additional deaths linked to the disease reported by the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard on Thursday, Sept. 9.
For the pandemic, the county now has had 646 hospitalizations and 124 deaths reported by the state, but in the past three days, those numbers are 56 hospitalizations and five deaths.
The deaths reported Thursday were for people who first tested positive for COVID on Aug. 15 and Aug. 26 — the 12th and 13th epidemiological deaths recorded in August — according to the state dashboard. It is the highest monthly death total the county has seen since it had 20 in January and comes after there were three epidemiological deaths in July.
Data analysis by The Bellingham Herald shows that 0.6% of Whatcom County’s 2,200 total cases (confirmed and probable cases combined) during August resulted in death. That is still lower than Whatcom’s 0.9% death rate for the entire pandemic, reported by the state, which is lower than the statewide average of 1.2%.
No other information about the people whose deaths were reported Thursday, such as their ages, genders, vaccination status or hometowns, was included with Thursday’s data.
The county’s weekly hospitalization rate, meanwhile which is based on the number of COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents from the most recently completed data (Aug. 25-31), stands at 11.0, the state reported, down slightly from the day before (11.4) but higher than 8.8 a week earlier (Aug. 18-24).
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 36 patients with COVID-related symptoms on Friday — down one from the last report and three fewer than the pandemic-high of 39 treated Aug. 30. The hospital reported that during the first six days of September approximately 12.6% of its COVID-related patients were vaccinated.
The latest report on the state dashboard also shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 12,277 confirmed cases during the pandemic — up 65 cases from the last report.
▪ An additional 852 probable COVID cases during the pandemic — up 20 from the last report — resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
▪ A 14-day infection rate of 527.19 cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data from Aug. 19 through Sept. 1 — down from the pandemic record-high of 536.84 in the last report (Aug. 18-31).
▪ 324,838 tests (molecular and antigen combined) performed during the pandemic — up 1,332 from the last report.
▪ 248,947 vaccinations administered during the pandemic. The state reports 64.2% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 58.5% 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 93.8% of all counties nationwide were “High.”
Bellingham schools report cases
The Bellingham Public Schools COVID-19 dashboard reported two additional cases and one new incident among its staff and students on Thursday. The district has now had eight incidents resulting in 13 cases so far this school year.
The most recent cases were reported the week of Aug. 30 and include:
▪ One new case at Bellingham High School. One case was previously reported at the school as part of the incident.
▪ One case at Sunnyland Elementary School.
The district reports close contacts have been notified in all three incidents.
COVID dashboards for the Blaine and Lynden 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.
The Mount Baker School District’s COVID-19 dashboard did not show any new cases after reported six cases in three incidents in its schools on Wednesday.
