Whatcom County sees another COVID-related death reported, its third this week
Whatcom County had its third COVID-related death of the week reported by the Washington Stated Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard on Thursday, Dec. 16.
The death reported Thursday brought the county’s pandemic total to 185 deaths that have been linked to COVID-19.
The death was for a person who first tested positive for COVID-19 on Sept. 30, The Bellingham Herald’s analysis of the state’s epidemiological data found, bringing the county’s epidemiological death total for September to 23. There have not yet been any deaths epidemiologically linked to December.
Since Aug. 1 when the delta surge first began to impact Whatcom, there have been 73 epidemiological deaths, The Herald found, which is 39% of the county’s pandemic total.
With 8,790 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 whose death was reported Thursday, such as their age, gender, vaccination status or hometown, was reported.
Before the death reported Thursday and another reported Wednesday, 76% of Whatcom’s 71 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, Dec. 13. An additional eight deaths (11%) were in people between 50 and 64, while seven (10%) were in people between 35 and 49.
Not counting the deaths reported Wednesday or Thursday, where the age has not yet been reported, no COVID-related deaths have been seen in any Whatcom residents younger than 30 during the pandemic, according to data released by the Whatcom County Health Department.
Before the three deaths reported this week, 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.
Other Whatcom COVID data
The latest report on the state dashboard also shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 17,667 confirmed cases during the pandemic — up 34 from the last report.
▪ 1,536 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 179 cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data Dec. 1-7 — up from 163 one week earlier (Nov. 24-30).
▪ 993 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic — up two from the last report. St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 26 patients with COVID-related symptoms on Friday — down one from its last report.
▪ A weekly COVID-related hospitalization rate of 12.7 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological hospitalization data from Dec. 1-7 — up from 9.2 a week earlier (Nov. 24-3-).
▪ 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.
▪ 318,138 vaccinations administered during the pandemic. The state reports 68.7% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 63.4% 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. Twenty-eight of the 39 counties in Washington state also 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 170 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. No new cases were listed Thursday.
▪ 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 281 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. No new reported cases since Dec. 11 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 30 COVID-19 cases in its schools since Oct. 31. No new reported cases since Dec. 11 have been listed.
▪ Ferndale School District reported Thursday that four 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. Two of those people were on a school campus during their infectious period.
This story was originally published December 17, 2021 at 8:23 AM.
