Whatcom surpasses 16,000 confirmed COVID cases and sees another death reported Friday
Whatcom County surpassed 16,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases during the pandemic and saw another COVID-related death reported over the Veterans’ Day holiday.
Whatcom has now had 168 deaths related to COVID-19, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard on Friday, Nov. 12. Friday’s data release included two days’ worth of data, as no report was made Thursday as the state observed Veteran’s Day.
The death reported Friday was for a resident who first tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 29, The Bellingham Herald’s analysis of the state’s epidemiological data showed. It represents the 13th epidemiological death the county has seen in October and increased the county’s total number of deaths since Aug. 1 to 56, The Herald found. No deaths have been epidemiologically linked to November yet.
With 6,970 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 still 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 people who died, such as their age, gender, vaccination status or hometown, was reported.
Before the death reported Friday, 73% of Whatcom’s 55 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 before Friday’s report, 81% of Whatcom’s first 167 deaths 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.
Including the death reported Friday, there were 49 COVID-related deaths in unvaccinated or partially vaccinated Whatcom County residents between Feb. 1 and Nov. 6, including 22 since Aug. 22, according to The Herald’s analysis of data released Friday by the Whatcom County Health Department. For comparison, there were 20 deaths of fully vaccinated residents between Feb. 1 and Oct. 23, including 15 since Aug. 22.
Other Whatcom COVID data
The latest report on the state dashboard also shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 16,003 confirmed cases during the pandemic — up 137 cases from the last report.
▪ 1,381 probable COVID cases during the pandemic — up five from the last report — resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
▪ A weekly infection rate of 191 cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data Oct. 28 through Nov. 3 — down from 207 one week earlier (Oct. 21-27).
▪ 881 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic — up 10 from the last report. St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 32 patients with COVID-related symptoms on Friday — up one from its last report.
▪ A weekly COVID-related hospitalization rate of 11.8 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological hospitalization data from Oct. 28 to Nov. 3 — down from 17.5 from a week earlier (Oct. 21-27).
▪ 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.
▪ 285,476 vaccinations administered during the pandemic — up 931 from the last report. The state reports 67.4% 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 Friday listed Whatcom’s level of transmission as “High” — the highest of four categories. Thirty-three of the 39 counties in Washington state were listed in the “High” transmission category along with 69.1% of all counties nationwide.
Whatcom schools COVID update
The COVID-19 dashboards on Whatcom County school district websites showed:
▪ Bellingham Public Schools has reported 123 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, including three news cases listed Friday: one case at Northern Heights Elementary with a possible exposure window of Nov. 8-12; one case at Parkview Elementary with a possible exposure window of Nov. 8-12; and one new case at Kulshan Middle School with a possible exposure window of Nov. 1-5. Kulshan had one earlier case reported with the same exposure window. All contacts have been notified, according to the district.
▪ Blaine School District has reported 133 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Friday.
▪ Lynden School District has reported 217 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Friday.
▪ Meridian School District has reported 32 COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Friday.
▪ Mount Baker School District has reported 35 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Friday.
▪ Ferndale School District reported Friday that seven students or staff have had a positive test reported to the Whatcom County Health Department in the past seven days — down seven from the last report. Four of those people were on a school campus during their infectious period.
COVID case information is not yet available 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 13, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
