Whatcom County just wrapped up its worst month of the COVID-19 pandemic so far
In terms of reported cases and hospitalizations, Whatcom County just completed its worst month of the 19-month-long COVID-19 pandemic, so far.
With 73 more confirmed COVID cases reported by the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard Thursday, Sept. 30, Whatcom County had 1,943 confirmed cases during the month of September — an average of 64.77 reported cases per day.
That average was second only to the 66.16 cases per day Whatcom saw in January, when the county had 2,051 confirmed cases reported.
But if you add in the 275 probable cases Whatcom had reported in September, resulting from a positive antigen test not confirmed by a molecular test, Whatcom had 2,218 total cases, which surpassed January’s to 2,066.
Whatcom also had 132 COVID-related hospitalizations reported in September, beating the previous monthly record of 91 set in January.
The county also had 18 COVID-related deaths reported last month, which was the fourth-highest monthly total behind the 19 reported in January, 21 reported in April 2020 and 22 reported in July 2020.
Whatcom’s daily numbers
The latest report on the state dashboard shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 13,561 confirmed cases during the pandemic — up 73 cases from the last report.
▪ 1,045 probable COVID cases during the pandemic — up 12from the last report.
▪ A 14-day infection rate of 432 cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data from Sept. 9-22 — lower than the 501.8 rate one week earlier (Sept. 2-15).
▪ 716 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic — up three from the last report. St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 20 patients with COVID-related symptoms on Friday, Oct. 1 — down two from the last report.
▪ A weekly COVID-related hospitalization rate of 10.5 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological hospitalization data from Sept. 15-21 — down from 13.2 a week earlier (Sept. 8-14).
▪ 134 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.”
▪ 253,601 vaccinations administered during the pandemic. The state reports 65.4% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 60.0% 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 93.8% of all counties nationwide were “High.”
Whatcom public schools COVID update
The Bellingham Public Schools COVID-19 dashboard has reported 42 total cases so far this school year. No new cases were reported Thursday.
The Blaine School District COVID-19 dashboard has reported 53 total cases so far this school year. No new cases were reported Thursday.
The Mount Baker School District COVID-19 dashboard has reported 13 cases so far this school year, including two new cases Thursday:
▪ One new case at Acme Elementary School reported Sept. 24. Affected individuals and close contacts have been quarantined, according to the dashboard.
▪ One new case at Mount Baker Junior High reported Sept. 27. Affected individuals and close contacts have been quarantined, according to the dashboard.
The Ferndale School District’s COVID-19 Updates page reports that as of Friday, 10 students or staff have had a positive test reported to the Whatcom County Health Department in the past seven days, nine 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 October 1, 2021 at 9:26 AM.
