Three Whatcom deaths reported in early October were all among unvaccinated residents
Unvaccinated or partially vaccinated Whatcom County residents were more than three times more likely to contract COVID-19 during the first full week of October than those who were fully vaccinated, according to analysis of data released by the Whatcom County Health Department.
Additionally, all three deaths reported during the week were in unvaccinated residents, according to the health department.
During the week of Oct. 3-9, there were a total 407 COVID cases and 26 hospitalizations reported, according to the health department’s latest data report released Friday, Oct 15.
Of those, 284 cases (70%) and 20 hospitalizations (77%) were in unvaccinated or partially vaccinated residents, according to the health department. The three deaths among unvaccinated residents were in a woman in her 50s, a woman in her 80s and a man in his 60s, the health department reported.
That means that 123 cases, six hospitalizations and no deaths during the week occurred in people who were deemed fully vaccinated.
Based on 135,420 Whatcom County residents completing 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 90.8 per 100,000 — down from 99.8 a week earlier. For comparison, the weekly infection rate among partially vaccinated or unvaccinated residents was 304.5 — also down from 351.6 a week earlier.
Based on analysis of data from the Whatcom County Health Department, a total of 1,470 breakthrough COVID cases that have been reported between Feb. 1 and Oct. 9 (15% of all cases) resulted in 55 hospitalizations (3.7% of breakthrough cases) and 15 deaths (1.0% of breakthrough cases).
Meanwhile, there have been a total of 8,139 cases in partially vaccinated or unvaccinated residents that have resulted in 406 hospitalizations (5.0% of cases) and 43 deaths (0.5% of cases).
Whatcom COVID cases
With 58 new confirmed cases reported Friday, Whatcom had a total 358 new cases reported last week, the county’s smallest increase in the previous nine weeks. The only other time since mid-August that the county had fewer than 400 cases in a week was when it had 391 cases the week of Sept. 19-25.
There were 420 reported the week before (Oct. 10-16), and since the middle of August, Whatcom has seen an average of 445 cases reported per week.
The county now has had 14,396 confirmed cases during the pandemic.
An additional 1,174 probable cases, resulting from a positive antigen test not confirmed by a molecular test, have been reported in the county — an increase of 46 last week and 14 on Friday.
Whatcom County’s two-week infection rate dropped last week to 409 cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed state case data between Sept. 23 and Oct. 6, up from 404 a week earlier (Sept. 16-29). Whatcom has the 10th-lowest two-week infection rate in the state, according to analysis of state data.
More Whatcom numbers
Other Whatcom County COVID data shows:
▪ With six COVID-related hospitalizations reported Friday, Whatcom had 24 reported last week — up from 21 a week earlier — and now has 765 during the pandemic, according to the state’s data.
▪ Whatcom’s COVID-related weekly hospitalization rate dropped to 7.9 hospitalizations per 100,000 residents based on the state’s most recent completed data Sept. 30 to Oct. 6, according to the state’s dashboard, down from 11.4 a week earlier for data Sept. 23-29. Whatcom has the 14th-lowest hospitalization rate in the state, according to the state dashboard.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 28 patients for COVID on Monday, Oct. 18 — unchanged from 28 on Sunday, Oct. 17, and down from 29 on Saturday, Oct. 16.
▪ The two COVID-related deaths in Whatcom County reported by the state on Friday meant there were four reported deaths linked to the disease last week. The county has now seen 152 deaths related to COVID during the pandemic.
▪ The state reports that 1.0% of Whatcom’s 15,166 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 264,802 vaccine doses — an increase of 3,339 last week, which was less than the 4,395 reported the week before. The state estimated that 66.1% of the total population in the county has initiated vaccination and 61.0% had completed it. Both percentages were ahead of the averages across the state, which reported that 64.2% of the state’s total population initiated vaccination and 59.2% 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 statewide Effective Reproductive Number (R-effective) shows that each person who tests positive for COVID-19 is estimated to infect 0.86 others as of Sept. 25, which is up from 0.82 on Sept. 18. Anything beneath 1.0 means that transmission of the disease should be shrinking.
▪ 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). Thirty-eight of the 39 counties in Washington state are listed in the “High” category, with Jefferson County the only exception, as are 84.6% of all counties nationwide.
Whatcom schools COVID update
The Herald’s analysis of data published by the Bellingham, Blaine, Lynden, Meridian and Mount Baker districts, which list which schools cases are reported in, shows there have been 310 total cases reported in those districts, an increase of 52 from the week before.
There have been a total of 125 cases reported in elementary schools, 62 cases reported in middle/junior high schools and 97 cases reported in high schools so far this school year. Another 26 cases have been reported in other district programs or facilities.
The COVID-19 dashboards on Whatcom County school district websites showed:
▪ Bellingham Public Schools has reported 69 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, including a new case reported Oct. 11-15 at Whatcom Middle School. Close contacts to the case 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 Friday.
▪ Lynden School District has reported 124 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this year. It listed no new cases Friday.
▪ Meridian School District has reported 15 COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Friday.
▪ Mount Baker School District has reported 26 COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Friday.
▪ Ferndale School District reports that as of Friday, 18 students or staff have had a positive test reported to the Whatcom County Health Department in the past seven days, down one from the previous report. Of those, 16 were on a school campus during their infectious period.
COVID case information could not be found on the Nooksack Valley School District website.
This story was originally published October 18, 2021 at 10:34 AM.
