As state celebrates anniversary of first vaccine shipment, Whatcom sees 49 new COVID cases
Following its smallest weekend increase in more than four months, Whatcom County saw 49 new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported on Tuesday, Dec. 14.
Whatcom County now has had 17,592 confirmed COVID-19 cases during the pandemic, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard.
The news comes on the same day the Washington State Department of Health commemorated the first anniversary of receiving its initial shipment of COVID-19 vaccine doses on Dec. 14, 2020.
“It is amazing to see how far we have come in just one year,” Secretary of Health Dr. Umair A. Shah said in a release. “From mass vaccination sites, to public-private partnerships through the Vaccine Action Command and Coordination System (VACCS) Center, mobile vaccination efforts through Care-a-Van, and more, it is clear this response has taken an immense amount of ingenuity and hard work.”
Whatcom County delivered its first vaccine doses on Dec. 17, 2020.
Tuesday’s report on the state dashboard also shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 1,521 probable COVID cases during the pandemic — up two from the last report — resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
▪ A weekly infection rate of 211 cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data Nov. 29 to Dec. 5 — up from 140 one week earlier (Nov. 22-28).
▪ 988 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic — up five from the last report. St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 25 patients with COVID-related symptoms on Wednesday — down two 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 Nov. 29 to Dec. 5 — up from 9.2 a week earlier (Nov. 22-28).
▪ 183 COVID-related deaths during the pandemic — unchanged from the last report.
▪ 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. The state reports 68.7% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 63.3% 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-five of the 39 counties in Washington state were listed in the “High” transmission category.
Whatcom long-term care update
Whatcom County had 19 new COVID-19 cases associated with its long-term care facilities reported last week but no new COVID-related deaths, 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, Dec. 13, Whatcom County long-term care facilities have had 655 confirmed cases during the pandemic. The number of COVID-related deaths related to Whatcom’s long-term care facilities remained at 68, according to the state’s data.
The 655 cases mean that long-term care facilities had 4% of the total cases reported in Whatcom County as of Dec. 6, while the 68 related deaths represented 37% of the county’s death total.
Statewide, long-term care facilities have been associated with 26,939 cases (3% of the state’s total cases) and 3,210 related deaths (34% 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 170 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, including two new cases at Silver Beach Elementary with a possible exposure window of Dec. 6-10. Silver Beach 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 Tuesday that eight students or staff have had a positive test reported to the Whatcom County Health Department in the past seven days — down one from the last report. Five of those people were on a school campus during their infectious period.
This story was originally published December 15, 2021 at 9:22 AM.
