With two more COVID-related deaths reported Wednesday, Whatcom reaches dubious milestone
Whatcom County reached a milestone nobody wanted to see, as two more COVID-related deaths were reported Wednesday, Oct. 13, bringing the county’s pandemic total to 150, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard.
The county’s 150th death was reported 121 days after its 100th was reported June 14. After the first death was reported March 19, 2020, it took the county 221 days to reach 50 reported deaths on Oct. 26, 2020, and another 231 days to reach 100.
Wednesday’s reported deaths were for people who first tested positive for COVID-19 on Aug. 29 and Sept. 24, according to the state’s epidemiological data — upping the county’s death total in August to 20 and 17 in September, The Bellingham Herald’s analysis shows. August now ties January for Whatcom’s highest number of deaths in a month since the county saw 26 during the first month of the pandemic in March 2020.
There has been one death of a person who first tested positive for COVID in October, so far, according to the state’s data.
With 4,450 total cases (confirmed and probable combined) in August and September, according to analysis of the state’s epidemiological data, 0.8% of all Whatcom County cases during that time frame resulted in death. That is better the the county’s pandemic death rate of 1.0% cases resulting in death and the statewide average of 1.2%, according to the state dashboard.
No other information about the people whose deaths were reported Wednesday, such as their ages, genders, vaccination status or hometowns, was released.
Before the two deaths reported Wednesday, 75% of Whatcom County’s 36 epidemiological deaths in August, September and October were in people 65 and older, according to The Herald’s analysis of the latest age-range data released by the state on Monday, Oct. 11.
For the entire pandemic before Monday, 83% of Whatcom’s first 148 deaths were in people 65 and older, according to analysis of the state data, which also showed that residents 65 and older accounted for 11% of all Whatcom cases through last week.
In August, September and October (before Wednesday’s deaths were reported) there were five 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.
Additionally, there were 40 COVID-related deaths in unvaccinated or partially vaccinated Whatcom County residents between Feb. 1 and Oct. 2, according to data released by the Whatcom County Health Department on Friday, Oct. 8, and 15 deaths of fully vaccinated residents during that same time frame.
Whatcom’s daily COVID numbers
The latest report on the state dashboard also shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 14,288 confirmed cases during the pandemic — up 50 cases from the last report.
▪ 1,153 probable COVID cases during the pandemic — up 14 from the last report — resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
▪ A 14-day infection rate of 426 cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data from Sept. 21 through Oct. 4 — higher than the 418 rate one week earlier (Sept. 14-27).
▪ 754 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic — up three from the last report. St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 22 patients with COVID-related symptoms on Thursday, Oct. 14 — down four from the last report.
▪ A weekly COVID-related hospitalization rate of 8.8 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological hospitalization data from Sept. 28 through Oct. 4 — down from 11.0 from a week earlier (Sept. 21-27).
▪ 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.”
▪ 263,888 vaccinations administered during the pandemic — up 653 from the last report. The state reports 66.1% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 60.9% has completed it.
Additionally, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Data Tracker Thursday listed Whatcom’s level of transmission as “High” — the highest of four categories. Thirty-eight of 39 counties in Washington state (all but Jefferson County) were listed in the “High” transmission category, and 86.1% of all counties nationwide were “High.”
Whatcom long-term care update
Whatcom County had nine new COVID-19 cases and three 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, Oct. 13, and reflected data through Monday, Whatcom County long-term care facilities have had 548 confirmed cases during the pandemic. The number of COVID-related deaths related to Whatcom’s long-term care facilities increased to 66, according to the state’s data.
The 548 cases mean that long-term care facilities had 4% of the total cases reported in Whatcom County as of Oct. 11, while the 66 related deaths represent 45% of the county’s death total.
Statewide, long-term care facilities have been associated with 24,531 cases (4% of the state’s total cases) and 2,981 related deaths (37% of the state’s death total).
Whatcom schools COVID update
The COVID-19 dashboards on Whatcom County school district websites showed:
▪ Bellingham Public Schools has reported 68 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, including three new cases reported Wednesday: one new case at Squalicum High School with possible exposure Oct. 4-8, one case at Squalicum High School with possible exposure Oct. 11-15 and one cases at Bellingham with possible exposure Oct. 4-8. Squalicum High has now had six cases reported with possible exposure Oct. 4-8. Close contacts of all cases have been notified, according to the dashboard.
▪ Blaine School District has reported 76 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Wednesday.
▪ Lynden School District has reported 88 total COVID-19 cases in its schools. No updates have been provided since Sept. 29.
▪ Meridian School District has reported 15 COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Wednesday.
▪ Mount Baker School District has reported 19 COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. No new cases were reported Wednesday.
▪ Ferndale School District reports that as of Wednesday, 17 students or staff have had a positive test reported to the Whatcom County Health Department in the past seven days — an increase from four in the last report. Fifteen of those people were on a school campus during their infectious period.
COVID case information could not be found on the Nooksack Valley School District website.
