One Whatcom region sees COVID infection rate nearly double, while 4 others see increases
Whatcom County’s most populated school district region saw nearly twice as many new COVID-19 cases as it had the week before, as it was one of five regions to have COVID activity pick up the week leading up to Christmas.
The region covered by Bellingham Public Schools, which had owned the lowest infection rate among Whatcom’s seven school district regions since mid-October, saw its rate of new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents over the past two weeks grow by 81% over its rate from last week, according to the Whatcom County Health Department’s latest location data released on Tuesday, Dec. 28.
The Bellingham region also surpassed 7,000 total cases for the pandemic last week.
Despite that growth, the Bellingham region still has the second-lowest rate among Whatcom’s seven regions, as four other regions also had significant gains in their two-week infection rates last week.
Only the regions covered by the Meridian and Mount Baker school districts saw decreases in their infection rates, though neither saw a particularly large drop.
That comes a week after none of the seven regions saw their infection rates grow and six regions had decreases.
The county health department releases weekly data on the location of COVID-19 cases using school districts as geographical boundaries, including each region’s number of total cases during the pandemic, infection rate, hospitalization rate, percentage of residents who have initiated vaccination and a breakdown of case rates by age. Data in this week’s report was through Saturday, Dec. 25.
Overall, Whatcom County saw a 2.9% growth in cases with 566 new cases between Dec. 19 and 25 — up from the 376 new cases the county reported the previous week.
With 942 cases in the past two weeks, Whatcom County has an overall two-week infection rate of 419 cases per 100,000 residents, based on 225,300 residents in the county. Five of the county’s regions had infection rates lower than that mark, according to the county’s data this week.
As of Monday, Dec. 27, the Washington State Department of Health reported that 69% of all Whatcom County residents had initiated vaccination and 64% had completed it.
Here is what the health department’s latest data showed for the seven regions in the county:
Bellingham: Up 4.2% (285 cases) since the Dec. 21 report to 7,130 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 200 last week to 362 this week. Approximately 80% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen seven COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 in the past two weeks.
Blaine: Up 3.4% (52 cases) since the Dec. 21 report to 1,585 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 297 last week to 414 this week. Approximately 72% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen five COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks.
Ferndale: Up 2.2% (83 cases) since the Dec. 21 report to 3,871 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 328 last week to 379 this week. Approximately 68% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen 14 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks.
Lynden: Up 1.9% (66 cases) since the Dec. 21 report to 3,454 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days increased from 456 last week to 572 this week. Approximately 56% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen nine COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks.
Meridian: Up 1.9% (22 cases) since the Dec. 21 report to 1,156 total cases, but the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 419 last week to 410 this week. Approximately 65% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen 27 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks.
Mount Baker: Up 1.9% (23 cases) since the Dec. 21 report to 1,218 total cases, but the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days decreased from 361 last week to 330 this week. Approximately 48% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen 12 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks.
Nooksack Valley: Up 2.3% (35 cases) since the Dec. 21 report to 1,538 total cases, and the rate of new infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 day increased from 445 last week to 532 this week. Approximately 53% of residents in the region have initiated vaccination, and the region has seen 17 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks.
This story was originally published December 29, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
