Weekly COVID-19 infection rates for school-aged children soar in this Whatcom region
Six of the seven school district regions within Whatcom County saw their two-week COVID-19 infection rates increase last week.
The only region to see its two-week total of new COVID cases per 100,000 residents drop from the previous week was Nooksack Valley, according to the latest location data released by the Whatcom County Health Department on Tuesday, Nov. 2, but that news had to be taken with a grain of salt, as the region still has the second-highest infection rate within the county.
The region with the highest infection rate was the Lynden region, which has seen an exceptionally high rate of cases among residents between ages 5 and 17 in the past week, according to the health department data. The region’s weekly infection rate among school-aged children was 1,000 cases per 100,000 residents (or 1% of all residents within that age group), according to the health department data.
That’s up from that age group’s rate of 659 cases per 100,000 residents a week earlier and more than double any other age group within the Lynden area this week.
In fact, no other age group within any other region in the county had an infection rate higher than 500 cases per 100,000 residents, according to the latest county data.
The Mount Baker region, meanwhile, surpassed 1,000 total cases during the pandemic, according to the health department’s data, leaving Meridian — the region with the second-smallest population in the county, behind only Nooksack Valley — as the only region yet to reach quadruple-digit case numbers.
The county health department releases weekly data on the location of COVID-19 cases using school districts as geographical boundaries, including each region’s number of total cases during the pandemic, infection rate, hospitalization rate, percentage of residents who have initiated vaccination and a breakdown of case rates by age. Data in this week’s report was through Saturday, Oct. 30.
Overall, Whatcom County saw a 2.8% growth in cases with 451 cases between Oct. 24 and Oct. 30 — down from the 548 new cases the county reported the previous week, according to the data.
With 999 cases in the past two weeks, Whatcom County has an overall two-week infection rate of 444, based on 225,300 residents in the county. Four of the county’s regions had infection rates lower than that mark, according to the county’s data this week.
As of Oct. 27, the Washington State Department of Health reported that 66.9% of all Whatcom County residents had initiated vaccination and 61.7% had completed it.
Here is what the health department’s latest data showed for the seven regions in the county:
Bellingham: Up 2.6% (148 cases) since the Oct. 26 report to 5,896 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 256 last week to 266 this week. Approximately 75% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen 19 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 in the past two weeks.
Blaine: Up 2.5% (31 cases) since the Oct. 26 report to 1,287 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 265 last week to 340 this week. Approximately 68% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen 32 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks.
Ferndale: Up 2.5% (81 cases) since the Oct. 26 report to 3,272 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 466 last week to 477 this week. Approximately 64% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen 31 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks.
Lynden: Up 3.5% (97 cases) since the Oct. 26 report to 2,878 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 665 last week to 767 this week. Approximately 54% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen 28 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks.
Meridian: Up 2.3% (22 cases) since the Oct. 26 report to 979 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 339 last week to 374 this week. Approximately 62% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen nine COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks.
Mount Baker: Up 4.0% (39 cases) since the Oct. 26 report to 1,004 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 261 last week to 398 this week. Approximately 46% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen 37 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks.
Nooksack Valley: Up 2.6% (33 cases) since the Oct. 26 report to 1,287 total cases, but the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 662 last week to 558 this week. Approximately 50% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen 35 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks.
This story was originally published November 3, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
