Whatcom sees another COVID-related death Monday, but there was some encouraging news, too
Though Whatcom County saw its smallest weekend increase in new COVID-19 cases since early August, the county’s COVID-related death total climbed by one.
Whatcom County now has had 17,543 confirmed COVID-19 cases during the pandemic, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard on Monday, Dec. 13, which was an increase of 86 from Friday’s report. It was the first weekend that Whatcom has not seen a triple-digit increase since the report for July 30 through Aug. 1.
But Monday’s report also included another resident’s death linked to COVID-19, bringing the county’s pandemic total to 183.
The death was for a person who first tested positive for COVID-19 on Nov. 10, The Bellingham Herald’s analysis of the state’s epidemiological data found, bringing the county’s epidemiological death total for November to 10.
Since Aug. 1 when the delta surge first began to impact Whatcom, there have been 71 epidemiological deaths, The Herald found, which is 39% of the county’s pandemic total.
With 8,659 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 better than the county’s pandemic death average of 1.0%, according to the state’s data, and the statewide 1.2% rate for the pandemic.
No other information about the person who died, such as their age, gender, vaccination status or hometown, was reported.
Since Aug. 1, 76% of Whatcom’s 71 deaths were in people 65 and older, according to The Herald’s analysis of the latest age-range data released by the state on Monday. An additional eight deaths (11%) were in people between 50 and 64, while seven (10%) were in people between 35 and 49.
For the entire pandemic, 88% of Whatcom’s 183 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 Dec. 11. No COVID-related deaths have been reported in any Whatcom residents younger than 30 during the pandemic, according to data released by the Whatcom County Health Department.
Before the death reported Monday, there were 57 COVID-related deaths in unvaccinated or partially vaccinated Whatcom County residents between Feb. 1 and Dec. 4, including 30 since Aug. 22, according to The Herald’s analysis of the latest data released Friday, Dec. 10, by the Whatcom County Health Department. For comparison, there were 23 deaths of fully vaccinated residents between Feb. 1 and Dec. 10, including 18 since Aug. 22.
More Whatcom COVID data
Monday’s report on the state dashboard also shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 1,519 probable COVID cases during the pandemic — up 15 from the last report — resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
▪ A weekly infection rate of 213 cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data Nov. 28 to Dec. 4 — up from 136 one week earlier (Nov. 21-27).
▪ 983 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic — up five from the last report. St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 27 patients with COVID-related symptoms on Tuesday — down one from its last report.
▪ A weekly COVID-related hospitalization rate of 13.6 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological hospitalization data from Nov. 28 to Dec. 4 — up from 8.8 a week earlier (Nov. 21-27).
▪ 348,103 total tests (molecular and antigen combined). The state reported that an “unexpected delay” has once again pushed back the resumption of its reporting of testing data until approximately Dec. 30.
▪ 317,025 vaccinations administered during the pandemic — up 3,387 from the last report. The state reports 68.7% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 63.3% has completed it. The state also reports Whatcom has administered 42,432 “additional doses,” which includes third doses for immunocompromised residents and booster doses.
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-six of the 39 counties in Washington state were listed in the “High” transmission category.
Whatcom schools COVID update
The COVID-19 dashboards on Whatcom County school district websites showed:
▪ Bellingham Public Schools has reported 168 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, including four new cases listed Monday: one new case at Bellingham High with a possible exposure window of Dec. 6-10; two cases at Birchwood Elementary with a possible exposure window of Dec. 6-10; and one case at Cordata Elementary with a possible exposure window of Dec. 13-17. Bellingham High has already had one case reported with the same exposure window.
▪ Blaine School District has reported 187 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. No new reported cases since Dec. 5 have been listed.
▪ Lynden School District has reported 261 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. No new reported cases since Nov. 24 have been listed.
▪ Meridian School District has reported 85 COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. No new reported cases since Dec. 12 have been listed.
▪ Mount Baker School District has reported 43 COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. No new reported cases since Nov. 24 have been listed.
▪ Nooksack Valley School District has reported 26 COVID-19 cases in its schools since Oct. 31. No new reported cases since Dec. 4 have been listed.
▪ Ferndale School District reported Monday that nine students or staff have had a positive test reported to the Whatcom County Health Department in the past seven days — unchanged from the last report. Five of those people were on a school campus during their infectious period.
Western Washington University reported that it had 14 students and one employee test positive for COVID-19 Dec. 5 to 10, as its totals for the school year increased to 156 students and 13 employees. The school reports that 2.1% of tests given the week of Dec. 6 returned positive results (11 of 544 tests), which is higher than the 1.5% average for the school year (133 of 8,896 tests). The school also reports that 95.4% of students and 97.3% of employees are fully vaccinated.
