Whatcom’s youngest residents seeing highest COVID infection rates since school started
Whatcom County’s youngest residents have a COVID-19 infection rate 42% higher than the rest of the population since students returned to school, which has played a role in keeping the county’s caseload high.
Between Sept. 5 and Oct. 16, 826 COVID cases were diagnosed in Whatcom County residents younger than 20 years old, The Bellingham Herald’s analysis of age-range data published on the the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard Tuesday, Oct. 19, showed.
Those 826 cases represent 30% of the 2,782 total cases within the county during the same time frame.
Based on 2019 U.S. Census estimates for the county, there were 1,573 cases per 100,000 Whatcom residents younger than 20 between Sept. 5 and Oct. 16, The Herald’s analysis found.
Meanwhile, Whatcom residents who have celebrated their 20th birthday had an infection rate of 1,107 per 100,000 residents during that period, The Herald found.
But the 826 cases among Whatcom residents younger than 20 resulted in just three COVID-related hospitalizations (0.4% of cases) and no deaths, The Herald’s analysis found. Meanwhile, the 1,573 cases among Whatcom residents 20 and older resulted in 142 hospitalizations (9.0% of cases) and 18 deaths (1.1% of cases).
None of Whatcom’s 18 COVID-related deaths since Sept. 5 have come in residents younger than 50, and only two occurred in residents younger than 65, the data shows.
Whatcom’s daily COVID numbers
Whatcom saw 223 new confirmed COVID cases reported by the state dashboard on Tuesday. Four days’ worth of data was included in the report, as “technical issues” prevented the state from reporting data Monday, Oct. 18.
Regardless, it represented the 11th straight weekend when the county’s confirmed case count has topped triple figures.
Whatcom now has had 14,619 confirmed cases during the pandemic. An additional 1,183 probable cases — resulting from a positive antigen test not confirmed by a molecular test — have been reported during the pandemic, an increase of nine from the last report.
Whatcom’s 14-day infection rate stands at 380 cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data from Sept. 27 through Oct. 10, according to the dashboard, which is down from 414 one week earlier (Sept. 20 through Oct. 3).
The latest report on the state dashboard also shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 776 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic — up nine from the last report. St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 25 patients with COVID-related symptoms on Wednesday, Oct. 20 — down one from the last report.
▪ A weekly COVID-related hospitalization rate of 9.7 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological hospitalization data from Oct. 4-10 — down from 8.3 from a week earlier (Sept. 27-Oct. 3).
▪ 152 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.”
▪ 266,588 vaccinations administered during the pandemic — up 1,786 from the last report. The state reports 66.3% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 61.2% has completed it. Whatcom also surpassed 70% vaccination of all residents 12 and older in the latest report.
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. Thirty-seven of 39 counties in Washington state (all but Jefferson and King counties) were listed in the “High” transmission category, and 84.7% 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 75 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, including two new cases reported Tuesday: one case at Bellingham High School with possible exposure Oct. 11-15 and one new case at Whatcom Middle School with possible exposure Oct. 11-15. Whatcom Middle School has now had three cases reported with possible exposure Oct. 11-15. 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 Tuesday.
▪ Lynden School District has reported 140 total COVID-19 cases in its schools, including 16 cases the week of Oct. 11-15 with one case at Bernice Vossbeck Elementary, one case at Fisher Elementary, four cases at Isom Elementary, seven cases at Lynden Middle School and three cases at Lynden High School.
▪ Meridian School District has reported 18 COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, including three new cases listed Tuesday: one case reported Oct. 8 at Meridian Middle School, one case reported Oct. 12 at Meridian High School and one case reported Oct. 15 at Meridian Middle School. All affected individuals and close contacts have been quarantined.
▪ Mount Baker School District has reported 19 COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. No new cases were reported Tuesday.
▪ Ferndale School District reports that as of Tuesday, seven students or staff have had a positive test reported to the Whatcom County Health Department in the past seven days — a decrease from 10 in the last report. Six 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.
This story was originally published October 20, 2021 at 10:55 AM.
