Whatcom County sees sixth COVID-related death reported by state since Friday
Whatcom County had another COVID-related death reported on Tuesday, Oct. 5 — the county’s sixth death linked to the respiratory illness reported since Friday, Oct. 1.
Whatcom now has seen 140 COVID-related deaths during the pandemic, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard.
The death was for a person who first tested positive for COVID on Sept. 17, according to the state’s epidemiological data — upping the county’s death total in September to nine, The Bellingham Herald’s analysis shows.
With 2,187 total cases (confirmed and probable combined) in September, according to analysis of the state’s epidemiological data, 0.4% of all Whatcom County cases resulted in death last month, which is better than the county’s pandemic average of 0.9% and August’s 0.9% rate when it saw 19 deaths. Statewide, 1.2% of all COVID cases have resulted in death, according to the state dashboard.
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 and another reported Monday, Oct. 4, 73% of Whatcom County’s 26 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. For the entire pandemic before Monday, 83% of Whatcom’s first 138 deaths were in people 65 and older, according to analysis of the state data, which also showed that residents 65 and older accounted for 10.8% of all Whatcom cases through last week.
In August and September there were four deaths in Whatcom County of people in the 50-65 age group, three 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.
Whatcom’s daily COVID numbers
The latest report on the state dashboard shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 13,844 confirmed cases during the pandemic — up 47 cases from the last report.
▪ 1,098 probable COVID cases during the pandemic — up seven from the last report — resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
▪ A 14-day infection rate of 418 cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data from Sept. 13-26 — lower than the 466 rate one week earlier (Sept. 6-19).
▪ 731 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic — up eight from the last report. St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 26 patients with COVID-related symptoms on Wednesday, Oct. 6 — down three 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. 20-26 — up from 9.7 a week earlier (Sept. 13-19).
▪ 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.”
▪ 259,163 vaccinations administered during the pandemic. The state reports 65.7% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 60.4% 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 92.6% of all counties nationwide were “High.”
Whatcom schools COVID update
The COVID-19 dashboards on Whatcom County school district websites showed:
▪ Bellingham Public Schools has reported 49 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, including four new cases reported Tuesday: two cases in Roosevelt Elementary School reported Sept. 27 to Oct. 1 and two new cases reported in Squalicum High School reported Sept. 27 to Oct. 1. Squalicum already had one reported case from the same time period. Close contacts to the cases have been notified, according to the dashboard.
▪ Blaine School District has reported 69 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Tuesday.
▪ Meridian School District has reported 13 COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Tuesday.
▪ Mount Baker School District has reported 14 COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Tuesday.
▪ Ferndale School District reports that as of Tuesday, four students or staff have had a positive test reported to the Whatcom County Health Department in the past seven days, three 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 6, 2021 at 9:07 AM.
