2 more Whatcom County residents’ deaths linked to COVID-19, including first from December
Whatcom County started out the holiday week with two more COVID-related deaths reported by the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard, including the county’s first death epidemiologically linked to December.
The deaths reported Monday, Dec. 20, brought the county’s pandemic total to 187 deaths that have been linked to COVID-19.
The death were for a person who first tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 27 and Dec. 8, The Bellingham Herald’s analysis of the state’s epidemiological data found, bringing the county’s epidemiological death total for October to 18. There were 11 epidemiological deaths so far in November.
Both people whose deaths were reported Monday were 65 or older, The Herald’s analysis of state age-range data released Monday showed.
Since Aug. 1 there have been 75 epidemiological deaths, The Herald found, which is 40% of the county’s pandemic total.
With 9,010 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 peoples whose deaths were reported Monday, such as their gender, vaccination status or hometown, was reported.
Including the deaths reported Monday, 75% of Whatcom’s 75 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. An additional eight deaths (11%) were in people between 50 and 64, while eight (11%) were in people between 35 and 49.
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 two deaths reported Monday, there were 59 COVID-related deaths in unvaccinated or partially vaccinated Whatcom County residents between Feb. 1 and Dec. 11, including 32 since Aug. 22, according to The Herald’s analysis of the latest data released Friday, Dec. 17, by the Whatcom County Health Department. For comparison, there were 25 deaths of fully vaccinated residents between Feb. 1 and Dec. 11, including 20 since Aug. 22.
Other Whatcom COVID data
The latest report on the state dashboard also shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 17,849 confirmed cases during the pandemic — up 126 from the last report.
▪ 1,574 probable COVID cases during the pandemic — up 16 from the last report — resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
▪ A weekly infection rate of 139 cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data Dec. 5-11 — down from 215 one week earlier (Nov. 28 to Dec. 4).
▪ 995 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic — up one from the last report. St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 28 patients with COVID-related symptoms on Tuesday, Dec. 21 — up three from its last report.
▪ A weekly COVID-related hospitalization rate of 8.3 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological hospitalization data from Dec. 5-11 — down from 13.6 a week earlier (Nov. 28 to Dec. 4).
▪ 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.
▪ 323,834 vaccinations administered during the pandemic — up 3,303 from the last report. The state reports 69.0% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 63.5% has completed it. The state also reports Whatcom has administered 52,194 “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. Twenty-seven 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 180 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. No new reported cases since Dec. 17 have been listed.
▪ Blaine School District has reported 203 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, including 16 new cases listed Monday. Among those cases, 12 were reported between Dec. 6 and 12 (four at Blaine Primary, two at the elementary school, one at the middle school, four at the high school and one among district staff) and fou were reported between Dec. 13 and 19 (two at Blaine Primary and two at the high school).
▪ Lynden School District has reported 281 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. No new reported cases since Dec. 10 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 Friday that seven students or staff had a positive test reported to the Whatcom County Health Department in the past seven days — up three from the last report. Four of those people were on a school campus during their infectious period.
