Whatcom County surpasses 900 COVID-related hospitalizations during pandemic
Whatcom County surpassed 900 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic, as five more were reported by the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard on Thursday, Nov. 18.
The county now has seen 903 hospitalization related to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
During the pandemic, 5.0% of the county’s 17,703 total COVID-19 cases (confirmed and molecular combined) have resulted in hospitalization, according to analysis of state numbers by The Bellingham Herald. But that number has been higher since Oct. 1, as 177 of 2,838 total cases in Whatcom (6.2%) have resulted in hospitalization.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 33 patients with COVID-related symptoms on Friday, Nov. 19 — down three from its last report.
Whatcom County’s weekly COVID-related hospitalization rate stands at 12.7 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological hospitalization data from Nov. 3-9 — down from 14.0 from a week earlier (Oct. 27-Nov. 2).
The latest report on the state dashboard also shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 16,293 confirmed cases during the pandemic — up 35 cases from the last report.
▪ 1,410 probable COVID cases during the pandemic — up 19 from the last report — resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
▪ A weekly infection rate of 205 cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data Nov. 3-9 — up from 202 one week earlier (Oct. 27 to Nov. 2).
▪ 172 COVID-related deaths during the pandemic — unchanged from the last report.
▪ 348,103 total tests (molecular and antigen combined) — an increase of 261 from the last report. The state reported it is still working to update testing data and hopes to fully resume reporting by Nov. 30.
▪ 291,462 vaccinations administered during the pandemic. The state reports 67.7% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 62.5% 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-four of the 39 counties in Washington state were listed in the “High” transmission category along with 71.5% of all counties nationwide.
Whatcom schools COVID update
The COVID-19 dashboards on Whatcom County school district websites showed:
▪ Bellingham Public Schools has reported 131 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, including six new cases listed Thursday: two cases at Silver Beach Elementary with a possible exposure window of Nov. 15-18, one case at Bellingham High with a possible exposure window of Nov. 8-12, and three new cases at Silver Beach Elementary with a possible exposure window of Nov. 8-12. One case had previously been reported at Silver Beach Elementary with the same exposure window. Close contacts from all cases have been notified, according to the district.
▪ Blaine School District has reported 153 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, including 20 new cases listed Thursday that were reported Nov. 8-14: three cases at Blaine Primary, one case at Blaine Elementary, two cases at Blaine Middle School, 12 cases at Blaine High and two cases among district staff.
▪ Lynden School District has reported 217 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Thursday.
▪ Meridian School District has reported 53 COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. I listed no new cases Thursday.
▪ Mount Baker School District has reported 35 COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Thursday.
▪ Ferndale School District reported Thursday that two students or staff have had a positive test reported to the Whatcom County Health Department in the past seven days — down from seven in the last report. One of those people was 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 in an Oct. 29 letter that the district plans to soon begin releasing a weekly case count on the website.
This story was originally published November 19, 2021 at 9:03 AM.
