Whatcom passes another COVID-19 milestone with big weekend, as schools report more cases
With another triple-digit weekend, Whatcom County surpassed 13,000 total confirmed cases during the pandemic, the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard reported Monday, Sept. 20.
With 205 new confirmed cases reported over the weekend, Whatcom’s pandemic total increased to 13,019.
It took the county 13 days after its 12,000th case was reported to surpass 13,000, which was a day quicker than it took to move from 11,000 to 12,000.
The 205 cases reported Monday marked the seventh-straight week the county had a triple-digit weekend case count and the fourth-straight week that mark has topped 200.
An additional 953 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 24 from the last report.
But Whatcom’s two-week infection rate dipped below 500 for the first time in 2½ weeks, dropping to 488.6 cases per 100,000 residents for the state’s most recently completed case data between Aug. 30-Sept. 12. That was down from 548.7 a week earlier (Aug. 23-Sept. 5).
The latest report on the state dashboard also shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 679 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic — up 11 from the last report. St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 28 patients with COVID-related symptoms on Tuesday, Sept. 21 — unchanged from the last report and 12 fewer than the pandemic-high of 40 treated Saturday, Sept. 11.
▪ A weekly COVID-related hospitalization rate of 15.4 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological hospitalization data from Sept. 5-11 — up from 11.4 a week earlier (Aug. 29-Sept. 4).
▪ 130 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.”
▪ 253,113 vaccinations administered during the pandemic — up 1,113 from the last report. The state reports 65.0% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 59.4% has completed it.
Additionally, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Data Tracker Tuesday 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 schools report cases
The Bellingham Public Schools COVID-19 dashboard on Monday reported two new incidents in its schools, bringing its total to 35 cases across 24 incidents so far this school year.
The most recent incidents included:
▪ One case reported at Sehome High School Sept. 13-17.
▪ One case reported at Happy Valley Elementary School Sept. 13-17.
Close contacts in the incident have been notified, according to the dashboard.
The Blaine School District COVID-19 dashboard on Monday reported 29 new cases spread across four incidents. The district has had 41 cases and 10 incidents so far this school year.
The newest incidents included:
▪ Two cases reported at the primary school Sept. 11-19. No remote learning or quarantine was required in this incident.
▪ Eight cases reported at the elementary school Sept. 11-19. No remote learning or quarantine was required in this incident.
▪ Four cases reported at the middle school Sept. 11-19. No remote learning or quarantine was required in this incident.
▪ 15 cases reported at the high school Sept. 11-19. Close contacts were required to return to remote learning or quarantine in this incident.
The Mount Baker School District COVID-19 dashboard is updated on Wednesdays and did not list any new cases or incidents on Thursday, Sept. 16, as the district has had 10 cases and six incidents this school year.
The Ferndale School District’s COVID-19 Updates page reports that seven students or staff have had a positive test reported to the Whatcom County Health Department in the past seven days, five of whom were on a school campus during their infectious period.
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 Meridian or Nooksack Valley school districts.
This story was originally published September 21, 2021 at 9:22 AM.
