Whatcom County sees another COVID-related death and 50 new cases reported Tuesday
Whatcom County saw another death related to COVID-19 reported by the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard Tuesday, Sept. 21.
It was the 131st death the county has seen reported during the pandemic.
The death was for a person who first tested positive for COVID on Aug. 25, according to the state’s epidemiological data and was the 18th death epidemiologically linked to August, according to The Bellingham Herald’s data analysis. The only months that have seen more deaths were March 2020, when there were 26 epidemiological deaths, and January 2021, when there were 20.
So far, two COVID-related deaths have been epidemiologically linked to September.
With 2,219 total cases (confirmed and probable combined) in August, according to the state’s epidemiological data, 0.8% of all Whatcom County cases resulted in death last month — slightly better than the county’s pandemic average of 0.9% of all cases resulting in death reported by the state. Statewide, 1.2% of all COVID cases have resulted in death.
No other information about the person whose death was reported Tuesday, such as their age, gender, vaccination status or hometown, was released.
Before the death reported Tuesday, 68% of Whatcom County’s 19 epidemiological deaths in August and September were in people 65 and older, according to The Herald’s analysis of the latest age-range data released by the state on Monday, Sept. 20. For the entire pandemic, 85% of Whatcom’s first 130 deaths were in people 65 and older, according to analysis of the state data, which also showed that residents 65 and older accounted for 10.5% of all Whatcom cases through last week.
In August and September there also have been three deaths in Whatcom County of people in the 50-65 age group, two in the 35-49 age group and one in the 20-34 age group, the data shows. The county has not had any deaths of anybody younger than 20 throughout the pandemic.
The latest report on the state dashboard also shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 13,069 confirmed cases during the pandemic — up 50 cases from the last report.
▪ 955 probable COVID cases during the pandemic — up two from the last report — resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
▪ A 14-day infection rate of 491.7 cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data from Aug. 31 through Sept. 13 — lower than the 518.9 rate one week earlier (Aug. 24 to Sept. 6).
▪ 685 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic — up six from the last report. St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 29 patients with COVID-related symptoms on Wednesday, Sept. 22 — up one from the last report but 11 fewer than the pandemic-high of 40 treated Sept. 11.
▪ A weekly COVID-related hospitalization rate of 14.9 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological hospitalization data from Sept. 6-12 — up from 11.4 a week earlier (Aug. 30-Sept. 5).
▪ 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. 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 Wednesday 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 66.7% of all counties nationwide were “High.”
Whatcom long-term care update
Whatcom County had 34 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. 20, Whatcom County long-term care facilities have had 508 confirmed cases during the pandemic. The number of COVID-related deaths related to Whatcom’s long-term care facilities increased to 59, according to the state’s data.
The 508 cases mean that long-term care facilities had 3.9% of the total cases reported in Whatcom County as of Sept. 20, while the 59 related deaths represent almost 45.4% of the county’s death total.
Statewide, long-term care facilities have been associated with 23,363 cases (4% of the state’s total cases) and 2,865 related deaths (39% of the state’s death total).
Whatcom schools report cases
The Bellingham Public Schools COVID-19 dashboard on Tuesday reported one new case in its schools, bringing its total to 36 cases across reported so far this school year.
The most recent case was reported Sept. 13-17 in Fairhaven Middle School. Close contacts in the incident have been notified, according to the dashboard.
The Blaine School District COVID-19 dashboard on Tuesday reported 12 new cases in its schools. The district has had 53 cases so far this school year.
The newest cases included:
▪ Five cases reported at the primary school Sept. 11-19. Two additional cases had already been reported at the school during the same time period. No remote learning or quarantine was required in this incident.
▪ Two cases reported at the elementary school Sept. 11-19. Eight additional cases had already been reported at the school during the same time period. No remote learning or quarantine was required in this incident.
▪ One case reported at the middle school Sept. 11-19. Four additional cases had already been reported at the school during the same time period. No remote learning or quarantine was required in this incident.
▪ Four cases reported at the high school Sept. 11-19. Fifteen additional cases had already been reported at the school during the same time period. Close contacts of those who tested positive were required to return to remote learning or quarantine.
The Mount Baker School District COVID-19 dashboard is updated on Wednesdays. The district has reported 10 cases so far this school year.
The Ferndale School District’s COVID-19 Updates page reports that eight students or staff have had a positive test reported to the Whatcom County Health Department in the past seven days, seven 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.
