Whatcom’s COVID case count includes 31 new confirmed, 16 new probable cases, state reports
Whatcom County had 31 new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported by the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard on Wednesday, Nov. 10.
The county has now had 15,866 confirmed cases throughout the pandemic, according to the state’s data.
An additional 1,376 probable cases, resulting from a positive antigen test not confirmed by a molecular test, was reported Wednesday, which was an increase of 16 from the previous report.
Whatcom’s latest weekly infection rate stands at 202 cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed data between Oct. 26 and Nov. 1, according to the state, which is slightly higher than the infection rate of 198 from one week earlier (Oct. 19-25).
The state will not release data Thursday in observance of Veterans’ Day.
The latest report on the state dashboard also shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 871 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic — up one from the last report. St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 31 patients with COVID-related symptoms on Thursday, Nov. 11 — 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. 26 to Nov. 1 — down from 15.4 from a week earlier (Oct. 19-25).
▪ 167 COVID-related deaths during the pandemic — unchanged from the last report, as the state did not report deaths Wednesday due to a “pause in data processing.”
▪ 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.
▪ 284,545 vaccinations administered during the pandemic — up 977 from the last report. The state reports 67.3% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 62.2% has completed it.
Additionally, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Data Tracker Thursday 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 (Wahkiakum County was “Substantial”) along with 69.0% 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. It listed no new cases Wednesday.
▪ Blaine School District has reported 133 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Wednesday.
▪ Lynden School District has reported 217 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Wednesday.
▪ Meridian School District has reported 32 COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Wednesday.
▪ Mount Baker School District has reported 35 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Wednesday.
▪ Ferndale School District reported Wednesday that 14 students or staff have had a positive test reported to the Whatcom County Health Department in the past seven days — up six from the last report. Seven 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.
