Whatcom sees 51 new confirmed COVID cases Wednesday, as schools report more incidents
Whatcom County had 51 new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported by the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard on Wednesday, Sept. 15.
The county has now seen 12,671 confirmed cases during the pandemic, according to the state data.
An additional 920 probable cases — resulting from a positive antigen test not confirmed by a molecular test — have been reported during the pandemic, according to the state, which was an increase of 12 from the last report.
Whatcom’s two-week infection rate increased to 533 cases per 100,000 people for the most recently completed case data (Aug. 25 through Sept. 7), which was up from 518 in the last report (Aug. 24 through Sept. 6) but slightly lower than the 540 from one week earlier (Aug 18-31).
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 30 patients with COVID-related symptoms on Thursday — down four from the last report and 10 fewer than the pandemic-high of 40 treated Saturday, Sept. 11.
The latest report on the state dashboard also shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 664 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic — up four from the last report.
▪ A weekly COVID-related hospitalization rate of 12.3 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological hospitalization data from Aug. 31 through Sept. 6 — up from 11.4 a week earlier (Aug. 24-30).
▪ 129 COVID-related deaths during the pandemic — unchanged from the last report.
▪ The state has stopped updating the number of completed tests until Oct. 31, as it works “to increase its capacity to process the increased testing data volume received in the last few months.”
▪ 251,230 vaccinations administered during the pandemic — up 438 from the last report. The state reports 64.6% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 59.0% 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, and 94.9% of all counties nationwide were “High.”
Whatcom’s COVID variant update
The most active variant in Whatcom County continues to be the delta variant, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s latest SARS-CoV-2 Sequencing and Variants in Washington State report released Wednesday. Of the 37 new confirmed variant cases included in the report for Whatcom, 89% (33 cases) were the delta variant.
Since the delta variant was reported in Whatcom County in the July 6 report by the state, there have been 572 confirmed delta cases in the county according to the state. That represents 75% of the 759 total variant cases reported since then and almost 19% of the 3,098 total confirmed cases reported since then.
Whatcom County also saw four new cases of the alpha or U.K. variant (482 total) included in the state’s latest report.
Whatcom County has at least one case of nine of the 10 variants currently being tracked in Washington state, but beyond the alpha, delta and gamma (253 total cases) variants, Whatcom has seen fewer than 50 cases of every other variant. A total of 1,373 variants have been reported in Whatcom County, which represents 22% of the 6,186 confirmed cases in the county since the first variant was reported Feb. 23.
Statewide, the report said that 6.7% of all confirmed molecular COVID-19 cases were sequenced during the month of August and 43,170 specimens (7.9%) have been sequenced since January.
Statewide, the Department of Health found there have been 2,450 vaccine “breakthrough” cases involving the delta variant, which represents 30% of the 9,379 confirmed delta variant cases in the state.
Whatcom long-term care update
Whatcom County had 14 new COVID-19 cases and two COVID-related deaths associated with its long-term care facilities reported last week, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s latest COVID-19 Long-Term Care Report.
According to the report, which was released Wednesday and reflected data through Monday, Sept. 13, Whatcom County long-term care facilities have had 474 confirmed cases during the pandemic. The number of COVID-related deaths related to Whatcom’s long-term care facilities increased to 57, according to the state’s data.
The 474 cases mean that long-term care facilities had 3.8% of the total cases reported in Whatcom County as of Sept. 6, while the 57 related deaths represent almost 45% of the county’s death total.
Statewide, long-term care facilities have been associated with 22,872 cases (4% of the state’s total cases) and 2,811 related deaths (40% of the state’s death total).
Whatcom schools report cases
The Bellingham Public Schools COVID-19 dashboard on Wednesday reported five new cases and two new incidents in its schools, bringing its total this school year to 28 cases across 19 incidents so far this school year.
The new cases included:
▪ One new case at Fairhaven Middle School reported between Sept. 7 and 10. There was already one case reported in the incident.
▪ Two new cases at Shuksan Middle School reported between Sept. 7 and 10. There was already one case reported in the incident.
▪ One case reported at Alderwood Elementary School between Sept. 7 and 10.
▪ One case reported at Sunnyland Elementary School between Sept. 13 and 17.
Close contacts in all four incidents have been notified, according to the dashboard.
The Mount Baker School District COVID-19 dashboard on Wednesday reported four new cases and three new incidents in its schools, bringing its total this school year to 10 cases and six incidents.
The new cases included:
▪ Two cases reported at Acme Elementary School on Sept. 9. Affected individuals and close contacts have been quarantined.
▪ One case reported at Kendall Elementary School on Sept. 15. One individual has been quarantined.
▪ One case reported at Harmony Elementary School Sept. 7. Affected individuals and close contacts have been quarantined.
The Blaine School District COVID-19 dashboard did not list any new cases or incidents on Wednesday, as the district has had 12 cases and six incidents so far this school year.
The COVID dashboard for the Lynden School District has not been updated 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 16, 2021 at 9:15 AM.
