More than 1 in 3 COVID cases in Whatcom County last week were in residents younger than 20
Whatcom County’s youngest residents continued to see the highest number of COVID-19 cases last week, as more than one in three cases was among residents who had not yet celebrated their 20th birthday.
Of Whatcom’s 413 COVID cases between Oct. 31 and Nov. 6 included in age-range data released Monday, Nov. 8, on the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard, 152 were in residents 19 years old and younger. Of those, 96 cases were residents 11 and younger.
The weekly infection rate among the county’s residents 19 and younger was 290 cases per 100,000 residents, The Bellingham Herald’s data analysis found, which was nearly twice the weekly rate of 148 cases per 100,000 residents 20 or older.
Every other age group in Whatcom County had the number of cases decrease.
But there were no reported hospitalizations among residents under the age of 20 last week and only one in residents between ages 20 and 34, the state data showed, and Whatcom County still has not seen a death of anybody under the age of 20 during the pandemic.
Monday’s age-range data included 55 COVID-related deaths in Whatcom County since Aug. 1. Of those, 73% (40 deaths) were among residents 65 and older. There have also been seven deaths in residents between ages of 50 and 64, six in residents between ages 35 and 49 and two in residents between ages 20 and 34.
Monday’s age-range data also included 350 COVID-related hospitalizations in Whatcom County since Aug. 1. Of those, 47% (163 hospitalizations) were among residents 65 and older. Only 11 (3%) were in residents 19 and younger, and an additional 24 (7%) were in residents between ages 20 and 34.
Whatcom daily COVID data
The latest report on the state dashboard also shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 15,779 confirmed cases during the pandemic — up 188 cases from the last report. It marked the 14th-straight weekend report that Whatcom County had a triple-digit increase in confirmed cases.
▪ 1,342 probable COVID cases during the pandemic — up 12 from the last report — resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
▪ A weekly infection rate of 204 cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data Oct. 24-30 — up from 198 one week earlier (Oct. 17-23).
▪ 859 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic — up six from the last report. St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 36 patients with COVID-related symptoms on Tuesday, Nov. 9 — up one from its last report.
▪ A weekly COVID-related hospitalization rate of 14.5 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological hospitalization data from Oct. 24-30 — up from 13.2 from a week earlier (Oct. 17-23).
▪ 167 COVID-related deaths during the pandemic — unchanged from the last report.
▪ 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.
▪ 283,568 vaccinations administered during the pandemic — up 3,265 from the last report. The state reports 67.3% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 62.1% has completed it. The state also surpassed 10 million vaccine doses administered in Monday’s report.
Additionally, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Data Tracker Tuesday listed Whatcom’s level of transmission as “High” — the highest of four categories. Thirty-eight of the 39 counties in Washington state were listed in the “High” transmission category (Columbia County was “Moderate”) along with 70.2% of all counties nationwide.
Whatcom schools COVID update
The COVID-19 dashboards on Whatcom County school district websites showed:
▪ Bellingham Public Schools has reported 120 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, including six new reported cases Monday with possible exposure windows of Nov. 1-5: one case at Carl Cozier Elementary, one case at Kulshan Middle School, one case at Roosevelt Elementary, one case at Silver Beach Elementary, one case at Squalicum High and one case at Wade King Elementary. All on-site close contacts have been notified, according to the district.
▪ Blaine School District has reported 123 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Monday.
▪ Lynden School District has reported 217 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, including 21 new cases listed Monday that were reported Nov. 1-5: two cases at Bernice Vossbeck Elementary, two cases at Fisher Elementary, three cases at Lynden Academy, six cases at Lynden Middle School and eight cases at Lynden High School.
▪ Meridian School District has reported 32 COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Monday.
▪ Mount Baker School District has previously reported 33 COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. The district’s dashboard was not functioning Tuesday morning.
▪ Ferndale School District reported Monday that eight students or staff have had a positive test reported to the Whatcom County Health Department in the past seven days — down four from the last report. Two 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.
Western Washington University reported that it had 12 students and no employees test positive for COVID Nov. 1-7, as its totals for the school year increased to 94 students and five employees. The school reports that 0.9% of tests given Nov. 1-7 returned positive results (seven of 832 tests), which is lower than the 1.5% for the school year (83 of 5,692 tests).
