Whatcom’s high number of COVID-related hospitalizations persists, with 11 reported Tuesday
Whatcom County continues to see a high number of COVID-related hospitalizations reported by the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard, as 11 more were added to its total on Tuesday, Nov. 9.
Whatcom now has had 870 hospitalizations linked to COVID-19 during the pandemic, including 47 reported so far in November.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 34 COVID-related patients on Wednesday, Nov. 10, which was down two from its last report.
So far, 26 people who first tested positive for COVID in November have been hospitalized, meaning 5.8% of the 369 cases epidemiologically linked to November have resulted in hospitalization.
That comes after the county had 119 hospitalizations (6.3% of cases) epidemiologically in October, 115 (5.2%) in September and 91 (4.1%) in August, according to analysis by The Bellingham Herald. Since Aug. 1, Whatcom County has seen 351 COVID-related hospitalizations or a little more than 40% of its pandemic total.
Whatcom’s weekly hospitalization rate stands at 15.4 per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed data (Oct. 25-31), according to the state, which is up from 14.9 one week earlier (Oct. 18-24).
Whatcom’s oldest citizens continue to be the hardest hit by COVID-related hospitalizations, The Herald’s analysis of age-range data released by the state on Monday showed.
Since Aug. 1, 30.5% of the 187 cases among Whatcom residents 80 and older have resulted in hospitalization, while 17.2% of the 612 cases among Whatcom’s residents between 65 and 79 resulted in hospitalization. Residents between 50 and 64 saw an 8.0% hospitalization rate among its 78 cases, while no other age group saw more than 5% of cases result in hospitalization, The Herald’s analysis found.
Vaccination is also playing a role in Whatcom’s hospitalizations.
Between Feb. 1 and Oct. 30, 87.1% of Whatcom’s 541 hospitalizations were among unvaccinated or partially vaccinated residents, The Herald’s analysis of weekly data released by the Whatcom County Health Department showed, as 70 hospitalizations (12.1%) were in breakthrough cases.
Whatcom daily COVID data
The latest report on the state dashboard also shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 15,835 confirmed cases during the pandemic — up 56 cases from the last report.
▪ 1,360 probable COVID cases during the pandemic — up 18 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. 25-31 — up from 199 one week earlier (Oct. 18-24).
▪ 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. The state reports 67.3% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 62.1% 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-eight of the 39 counties in Washington state were listed in the “High” transmission category (Columbia County was “Substantial”) along with 69.8% of all counties nationwide.
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. 8, Whatcom County long-term care facilities have had 570 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 570 cases mean that long-term care facilities had 3.6% of the total cases reported in Whatcom County as of Nov. 8, while the 67 related deaths represent 40% of the county’s death total.
Statewide, long-term care facilities have been associated with 25,947 cases (3% of the state’s total cases) and 3,110 related deaths (35% 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 120 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Tuesday.
▪ Blaine School District has reported 133 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, including 10 new cases reported Nov. 1-7: six cases at Blaine Primary, two cases at Blaine Elementary and two cases at Blaine High.
▪ Lynden School District has reported 217 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Tuesday.
▪ Meridian School District has reported 32 COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Tuesday.
▪ Mount Baker School District has reported 35 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, including two new cases: one case reported Nov. 1 at Kendall Elementary and one case reported Nov. 3 at Mount Baker High.
▪ Ferndale School District did not update its dashboard Tuesday. The 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.
This story was originally published November 10, 2021 at 10:06 AM.
