Whatcom breaks its pandemic infection rate record — again — as omicron quattuordecuples
Whatcom County broke its pandemic record for weekly COVID-19 infection rate on Wednesday, Jan. 5, and saw its number of confirmed omicron variant cases quattuordecuple — or increase by a factor of 14.
Whatcom’s number of confirmed omicron variant cases jumped from two to 28, according to the Department of Health’s latest SARS-CoV-2 Sequencing and Variants in Washington State report released Wednesday.
Statewide, 802 confirmed omicron cases have been reported, according to the report, which is up 396 cases from last week’s report.
The state’s latest variant report showed Whatcom also had 67 new confirmed delta variant cases reported last week, which is the only other “variant of concern” being monitored by the state. Whatcom has had 2,028 confirmed delta cases since the first case was reported July 6. Those 2,028 cases represent 20% of the 10,397 total cases reported in the county since July 6.
Whatcom County has at least one case of seven of the eight “variants being monitored” by the state. But beyond the delta, alpha (476 total cases) and gamma (255 total cases), Whatcom has seen fewer than 50 cases of every other variant.
Whatcom’s 2,859 total variant cases represent 21% of the 13,390 confirmed cases in the county since the first variant was reported Feb. 23.
Statewide, the report said that 11.5% of all confirmed molecular COVID-19 cases were sequenced during the month of November and 59,148 specimens (11.3% of all confirmed cases) have been sequenced since January, meaning variant counts across the state and in Whatcom County are likely much higher.
Statewide, the Department of Health found there have been 10,410 vaccine “breakthrough” cases in fully vaccinated residents involving the delta variant, which represents 29% of the 35,801 confirmed delta variant cases in the state. There have been 440 Omicron “breakthrough” cases, which represents 55% of the 802 confirmed cases in the state.
Whatcom breaks infection record
Whatcom County’s number of confirmed COVID-19 cases jumped by 160 on Wednesday, according to the latest report on the Washington State Department of Health COVID-19 Data Dashboard.
Whatcom has now had 19,984 confirmed cases during the pandemic, according to the state.
Wednesday’s triple-digit increase was the fourth straight report containing more than 100 new confirmed cases, dating back to Thursday, Dec. 30, and including a pandemic record 947 cases over the four-day New Year’s holiday weekend on Monday, Jan. 3.
Epidemiologically, Whatcom County has seen more than 100 people test positive for COVID-19 on 10 days since Dec. 20, including three days with more than 250 new cases. Before Dec. 20, the county had only five days of more than 100 new confirmed cases and none over 120.
Whatcom County has a weekly infection rate of 295 cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data from Dec. 21-27, which is up from 199 from a week earlier (Dec. 14-20) and the county’s highest weekly rate of the pandemic, beating the old record of 293 set Aug. 23-29.
Other Whatcom numbers
The latest report on the state dashboard also shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 1,760 additional probable COVID cases during the pandemic — up 74 from the last report — resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
▪ 1,059 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic — up one from the last report. St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating a pandemic record-high 48 patients with COVID-related symptoms on Thursday, Jan. 6 — up one from its previous record high of 47 on Wednesday.
▪ A weekly COVID-related hospitalization rate of 9.2 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological hospitalization data from Dec. 21-27 — up from 7.9 from a week earlier (Dec. 14-20).
▪ 204 COVID-related deaths during the pandemic — unchanged from the last report, but due to a “technical issue” death data was incomplete, according to the dashboard.
▪ 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 Feb. 28.
▪ 334,482 vaccinations administered during the pandemic — up 711 from the last report. The state reports 69.5% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 63.8% has completed it. The state also reports Whatcom has administered 60,223 “additional doses,” which includes third doses for immunocompromised residents and booster doses.
Additionally, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Data Tracker Thursday listed Whatcom’s level of transmission as “High” — the highest of four categories. Thirty-eight of the 39 counties in Washington state and 97% of counties nationwide also were listed in the “High” transmission category.
Whatcom schools COVID update
Bellingham Public Schools reported 53 COVID-19 cases in its schools that had a possible exposure date of Jan. 3-7: four cases at Alderwood Elementary, six cases at Bellingham High, one case at Birchwood Elementary, four cases at Carl Cozier Elementary, two cases at Geneva Elementary, one case at Fairhaven Middle School, one case in the Bellingham Partnership Program, four cases at Happy Valley Elementary, one case at Lowell Elementary, four cases at Northern Heights Elementary, two cases at Options High, one case at Parkview Elementary, one case at Sehome High, three cases at Shuksan Middle School, five cases at Silver Beach Elementary, nine cases at Squalicum High, two cases at Whatcom Middle School and two cases at non-school sites.
No other districts have reported any new cases in 2022, as of Thursday morning.
This story was originally published January 6, 2022 at 10:16 AM.
