As COVID cases increase, holidays and winter weather make testing in Whatcom difficult
Whatcom County’s recent snowy and extremely cold weather during the holidays, coupled with the Washington State Department of Health’s months-long difficulty to update testing data, has made it difficult for local health officials to get an accurate picture of COVID-19 activity within the area.
The Washington State Department of Health stopped updating negative test results on its COVID-19 Data Dashboard on Sept. 15, saying “This pause is needed to increase DOH’s capacity to process increasing testing data volumes.”
Originally expected to resume in late October, the Department of Health has three times had to delay the resumption of reporting negative test results, most recently reporting on Monday, Dec. 27, that it would not resume releasing that data until approximately Feb. 28, 2022.
“DOH is still working on upgrading their system that processes test results,” Whatcom County Health Department Health Information and Assessment Supervisor Amy Hockenberry told The Bellingham Herald in an email. “There are millions of negative tests that are backlogged and need to be processed.
“So, unfortunately, we won’t have accurate testing numbers for some time to come. There is no other place to get this information.”
But county health officials certainly are not operating in the dark.
In Whatcom County, for example, health officials are able to look at the data it gets from the drive-through testing site at Bellingham International Airport it operates in cooperation with Northwest Laboratory.
“While we do get the testing data from the airport site, this is only one access point, and while decent, we can’t solely use it to determine disease activity,” Hockenberry wrote.
But using that information has become even more difficult the past week, Hockenberry reported, with closures for the holidays and compounded by the need to shorten hours due to extreme cold temperatures and unsafe snowy roads.
“Because of the weather-related and holiday closures, this week’s data from the site will be less helpful for giving us an accurate picture of COVID-19 activity,” Hockenberry wrote.
The health department announced Wednesday, Dec. 29, that hours at the airport testing site were being cut due to the cold and snow, advising Whatcom County residents to “stay home” and off the roads due to the road conditions and a surge in cases in the area in the past week.
The testing site already was scheduled to be closed New Year’s Day and close for the holiday at 11 a.m. Friday, Dec. 31, though Northwest Laboratory staff volunteered to work into the afternoon so that some of the appointments that were canceled by the weather could be made up, according to a health department release Thursday, Dec. 30.
The testing site was also closed Monday, Dec. 27, due to the winter weather and late last week for the Christmas holiday.
“Finding testing will continue to be challenging,” Wednesday’s health department release read. “Please expect delays due to high demand and short supply of tests. Please be patient with staff, both those who are scheduling appointments and those who are at the testing site. They are doing their best in difficult circumstances.”
Wednesday’s release stated that next available appointments were about a week out, and that has left a handful of people who have emailed The Herald questioning whether the county is offering enough testing opportunities to meet increased demand.
“I would say, yes, we are seeing a higher demand for testing, but with closures due to the weather and holidays, it is hard to say if we would be meeting or not meeting that need,” Hockenberry wrote.
As of Sept. 14, Whatcom County had 328,569 reported tests, according to the state dashboard. At the time there were 13,528 total cases, meaning the county’s test positivity rate for the pandemic was approximately 4.1%.
Since then, Whatcom has had an additional 6,588 total cases reported by the state, as of data released Wednesday.
Case numbers have spiked in the past week. The state’s epidemiological curves as of Wednesday showed Whatcom has had 602 total cases since Dec. 20, including the two highest daily confirmed case counts the county has seen in 21-plus months of the pandemic — with 128 cases epidemiologically linked to Dec. 22 and 151 positive molecular tests recorded on Dec. 23.
“We are seeing a huge surge of COVID-19 cases right now, even with this week’s testing site closures,” Thursday’s health department release reads. “If you have COVID-19 symptoms or if you’ve been exposed to COVID-19, please assume that you are infected and stay home for 5 days. If you don’t have symptoms on day 5, wear a mask around others for another 5 days and keep monitoring for symptoms.”
Whatcom County residents who wish to make a testing appointment can schedule an appointment at the airport testing site at TestDirectly.com/whatcom or look for other local testing providers at whatcomcounty.us/3388/COVID-19-Testing#testloc. Those who have COVID symptoms and are unable to get an appointment for two days are asked to call 360-778-6075 between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, according to the county’s testing webpage.
