Whatcom sees 10th COVID-related death reported by state in past nine days
Whatcom County had its 10th COVID-related death reported in the past nine days by the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard on Tuesday, Nov. 3, bringing the county’s pandemic total to 164 deaths.
The death reported Tuesday was for a resident who first tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 11, The Bellingham Herald’s analysis of the state’s epidemiological data showed. It represents the ninth epidemiological deaths the county has seen in October and increased the county’s total number of deaths since Aug. 1 to 52, The Herald found.
With 6,324 total cases (confirmed and probable combined) in the county since Aug. 1, Whatcom has seen 0.8% of cases during that time frame result in death, The Herald’s analysis showed. That is better than the county’s pandemic death average of 1.0%, according to the state’s data, and the statewide 1.2% rate.
No other information about the person who died, such as their age, gender, vaccination status or hometown, was reported.
Before Tuesday’s report, 73% of Whatcom’s 51 deaths since Aug. 1 were in people 65 and older, according to The Herald’s analysis of the latest age-range data released by the state on Monday, Nov. 2.
For the entire pandemic, 82% of Whatcom’s first 163 deaths (before the death reported Tuesday) 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.
Before the death reported Tuesday, there were seven deaths in Whatcom County residents in the 50-65 age group since Aug. 1, including four since Sept. 26. Additionally, there have been five deaths in the 35-49 age group and two in the 20-34 age group since Aug. 1, the state’s data shows.
The county has not had any deaths of anybody younger than 20 throughout the pandemic.
Before the death reported Tuesday and two others reported Monday, there were 47 COVID-related deaths in unvaccinated or partially vaccinated Whatcom County residents between Feb. 1 and Oct. 23, including 20 since Aug. 15, according to The Herald’s analysis of data released last week by the Whatcom County Health Department. For comparison, there were 16 deaths of fully vaccinated residents between Feb. 1 and Oct. 23, including 14 since Aug. 15.
Whatcom daily COVID data
The latest report on the state dashboard also shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 15,445 confirmed cases during the pandemic — up 72 cases from the last report.
▪ 1,294 probable COVID cases during the pandemic — up 13 from the last report — resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
▪ A weekly infection rate of 198 cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data Oct. 18-24 — up from 182 one week earlier (Oct. 11-17).
▪ 843 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic — up six from the last report. St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 34 patients with COVID-related symptoms on Wednesday, Nov. 3 — down three from its last report.
▪ A weekly COVID-related hospitalization rate of 14.9 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological hospitalization data from Oct. 18-24 — up from 8.8 from a week earlier (Oct. 11-17).
▪ The state was expected to begin reporting testing data again on Sunday, Oct. 31, after it paused that data on Sept. 15, but it now says that “an unexpected delay” will keep it from reporting that data again until Nov. 30.
▪ 277,094 vaccinations administered during the pandemic. The state reports 66.9% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 61.8% 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. Thirty-seven of the 39 counties in Washington state were listed in the “High” transmission category (all but Columbia and Jefferson counties), and 73.7% of all counties nationwide were “High.”
Whatcom long-term care update
Whatcom County had three new COVID-19 cases but no new 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 Tuesday and reflected data through Monday, Nov. 1, Whatcom County long-term care facilities have had 567 confirmed cases during the pandemic. The number of COVID-related deaths related to Whatcom’s long-term care facilities remained at 67, according to the state’s data.
The 567 cases mean that long-term care facilities had 4% of the total cases reported in Whatcom County as of Nov. 1, while the 67 related deaths represent 41% of the county’s death total.
Statewide, long-term care facilities have been associated with 25,730 cases (4% of the state’s total cases) and 3,088 related deaths (36% 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 111 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, including five new cases reported Tuesday: one case at Fairhaven Middle School with a possible exposure window of Nov. 1-5, one case at Kulshan Middle School with a possible exposure window of Oct. 25-29, two cases at Shuksan Middle School with possible exposure windows of Oct. 25-29 and one new case at Squalicum High with a possible exposure window of Oct. 25-29. Squalicum had two cases previously reported with the same exposure window. Close contacts of all cases have been notified, according to the dashboard.
▪ Blaine School District has reported 82 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Tuesday.
▪ Lynden School District has reported 196 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Tuesday.
▪ Meridian School District has reported 27 COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Tuesday.
▪ Mount Baker School District has reported 33 COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Tuesday.
▪ Ferndale School District reported seven students or staff have had a positive test reported to the Whatcom County Health Department in the past seven days — unchanged from the last report. Four 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, but Superintendent Mike Galley wrote that the district plans to soon begin releasing a weekly case count on the website in an Oct. 29 letter.
