Whatcom COVID-19 update: 77 new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported by state Thursday
Whatcom County had 77 new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported by the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard on Thursday, Sept. 16.
The county now has seen 12,748 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 nine from the last report.
Whatcom’s two-week infection rate increased to 536 cases per 100,000 people for the most recently completed case data (Aug. 26 through Sept. 8), which was slightly higher than the rate of 531 from one week earlier (Aug 19 through Sept. 1).
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 33 patients with COVID-related symptoms on Friday — up three from the last report but seven fewer than the pandemic-high of 40 treated Saturday, Sept. 11.
The latest report on the state dashboard also shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 666 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic — up two from the last report.
▪ A weekly COVID-related hospitalization rate of 13.6 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological hospitalization data from Sept. 1-7 — up from 11.0 a week earlier (Aug. 25-31).
▪ 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. 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 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 94.4% of all counties nationwide were “High.”
Bellingham schools report cases
The Bellingham Public Schools COVID-19 dashboard on Thursday reported two new cases and one new incident in its schools, bringing its total this school year to 29 cases across 19 incidents so far this school year.
The most recent incident involved two cases reported at Sunnyland Elementary School between Sept. 13 and 17. Close contacts in the incident have been notified, according to the dashboard.
The Blaine School District COVID-19 dashboard did not list any new cases or incidents on Thursday, as the district has had 12 cases and six incidents so far this school year.
The Mount Baker School District COVID-19 dashboard also did not list any new cases or incidents on Thursday, as the district has had 10 cases and six incidents 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.
