Bellingham hospital reports weekend increase in number of COVID patients it’s treating
The number of COVID-related hospitalizations at St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham climbed over the weekend and now stands at 27, the hospital reported Monday morning, Oct. 4.
While the 27 current COVID hospitalizations are still well below the record high of 40 set on Sept. 11, it was seven more than the hospital reported on Friday, Oct. 1.
The count climbed to 22 on Saturday, Oct. 2, and 23 on Sunday, Oct. 3, before Monday’s report of 27, which was the highest total the hospital has reported since it had 28 on Sept. 25.
Overall, Whatcom County had 26 new COVID-related hospitalizations reported last week, including four on Friday, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard. That was the same number as the county saw reported the week before (Sept. 19-25).
But the county’s weekly hospitalization rate, which is based on the state’s most recently completed data (Sept. 16-22), decreased slightly to 10.1 hospitalizations per 100,000 residents, down from 10.5 one week earlier (Sept. 9-15).
“Since September this rate has climbed to a mark that is higher than anytime during the winter surge,” the Whatcom County Health Department said in data released Friday.
Throughout the pandemic, Whatcom County has seen 720 hospitalizations related to COVID.
Whatcom COVID cases
With 57 new confirmed cases reported Friday, Whatcom had 413 new cases reported last week, marking the sixth time in the past seven weeks the county has surpassed 400 reported cases in a week. There were 391 reported the week before (Sept. 19-25).
The county now has had 13,618 confirmed cases during the pandemic.
An additional 1,064 probable cases, resulting from a positive antigen test not confirmed by a molecular test, have been reported in the county — an increase of 81 last week and 19 on Friday.
Whatcom County’s two-week infection rate dropped last week to 432.9 cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed state case data between Sept. 9-22, down from 501.8 a week earlier (Sept. 2-15).
Whatcom’s COVID breakthrough report
During the week of Sept. 19-25, there were 438 COVID cases, 19 hospitalizations and one death, according to the Whatcom County Health Department’s latest data report released Friday.
Of those, 127 cases (29%), five hospitalizations (26.3%) and no deaths occurred in people who were deemed fully vaccinated, the health department reported. The one death was in an unvaccinated female between the ages of 70 and 79, according to the report.
Based on the 132,760 Whatcom County residents that had completed vaccination by that the start of the week, reported by the state’s dashboard, The Bellingham Herald’s data analysis found that the weekly infection rate for fully vaccinated residents was 95.7 per 100,000. For comparison, the weekly infection rate among partially vaccinated or unvaccinated residents was 324.2.
Between Feb. 1 and Sept. 25, the Whatcom County Health Department has reported a total of 1,213 breakthrough COVID cases that have resulted in 45 hospitalizations (3.7% of cases) and 12 deaths (1.0% of cases). Meanwhile, there have been a total of 7,523 cases in partially vaccinated or unvaccinated residents that have resulted in 368 hospitalizations (4.9% of of cases) and 35 deaths (0.5% of cases).
More Whatcom numbers
Other Whatcom County COVID data shows:
▪ The four COVID-related deaths in Whatcom County reported by the state on Friday were the only four reported last week. The county has now seen 138 deaths linked to COVID during the pandemic.
▪ The state reports that 0.9% of Whatcom’s 14,682 total cases (confirmed and probable cases combined) have resulted in death — better than the statewide 1.2% average.
▪ The state’s vaccination report on Friday showed the county has now administered 257,068 vaccine doses — an increase of 2,780 last week, which was more than the 2,288 reported the week before. The state estimated that 65.5% of the total population in the county has initiated vaccination and 60.1% had completed it. Both percentages were ahead of the averages across the state, which reported that 63.3% of the state’s total population initiated vaccination and 57.8% are fully vaccinated.
▪ 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.”
▪ The CDC’s COVID Data Tracker on Monday continued to list the level of transmission in Whatcom County as “High” (the highest of four classifications). All 39 counties in Washington state are listed in the “High” category, as are 92.8% of all counties nationwide.
Whatcom schools COVID update
The Bellingham Public Schools COVID-19 dashboard has reported 44 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, including two new cases reported on Friday:
▪ One case at Shuksan Middle School reported Sept. 27 to Oct. 1.
▪ One case at Lowell Elementary School reported Sept. 27 to Oct. 1.
Close contacts to the cases have been notified, according to the dashboard.
The Blaine School District COVID-19 dashboard has reported 69 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, including 16 new cases reported on Friday:
▪ Two cases reported in the primary school Sept. 20-26.
▪ Five cases reported in the elementary school Sept. 20-26.
▪ Five cases reported in the elementary school Sept. 20-26.
▪ Three cases reported in the high school Sept. 20-26.
▪ One case reported in HomeConnection Sept. 20-26.
None of the cases required any other contacts to quarantine or return to remote learning.
The Meridian School District COVID-19 dashboard has reported 13 COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, including:
▪ Two cases reported at Meridian High School Sept. 20.
▪ One case reported at Irene Reither Elementary School Sept. 23.
▪ One case reported at Meridian Middle School Sept. 23.
▪ Two cases reported at Irene Reither Elementary School Sept. 27.
Affected individuals and all close contacts were quarantined, according to the dashboard.
The Mount Baker School District COVID-19 dashboard has reported 14 COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, including a new case in the District Office and Maintenance. Affected individuals and all close contacts were quarantined, according to the dashboard.
The Ferndale School District’s COVID-19 Updates page reports that as of Monday, six 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 Nooksack Valley School District website.
This story was originally published October 4, 2021 at 11:58 AM.
