Whatcom surpasses 20,000 COVID cases with second-largest increase and adds 2 new deaths
With its second-largest reported increase of the pandemic on Thursday, Whatcom County sailed past 20,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, breaking its record for infection rate and adding two new COVID-related deaths in the process.
Whatcom added 401 confirmed COVID-19 cases, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard on Thursday, Jan. 6, bringing the county’s pandemic total of confirmed cases to 20,385.
That came only three days after Whatcom County surpassed 19,000 reported confirmed cases on Monday, Jan. 3, which was the day a record 947 confirmed cases were reported from the four-day New Year’s holiday weekend. Thursday’s report is now the second-largest increase the county has seen.
For the record, it took the county 512 days to go from its first reported confirmed case on March 10, 2020, to its 10,000th on Aug. 4, 2021. It took only 154 days for Whatcom’s second 10,000 cases.
The state also reported an additional 99 probable cases Thursday, resulting from a positive antigen test not confirmed by a molecular test, bringing Whatcom’s pandemic total to 1,859 probable cases.
And for the second-straight day, Whatcom broke its weekly infection rate record, this time increasing it by nearly a third. Whatcom currently has a weekly rate of 389 cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data from Dec. 22 to 28, which is up from 296 one day earlier and up from 251 one week earlier (Dec. 15-21).
Epidemiologically, Whatcom surpassed 300 positive tests in a single day for the first time of the pandemic with 300 cases reported on Dec. 29 and a record 317 reported Jan. 3, according to the state’s epidemiological curves.
The county has now had 10 days since Dec. 20 where it has reached triple digits epidemiologically, after reaching that mark only five times before Dec. 20 and never topping 120 cases in a single day.
Whatcom’s most recent deaths
The two deaths reported by the state Thursday brought the county’s pandemic total to 206, including 21 reported in the past 18 days.
The deaths reported Tuesday were for people who first tested positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 1 and Dec. 27, The Bellingham Herald’s analysis of the state’s epidemiological data found, bringing the county’s epidemiological death total for December to 15. There were also 15 death epidemiologically linked to November and 18 in October.
Since Aug. 1, the beginning of the delta surge, there have been 94 epidemiological deaths, The Herald found, which is 46% of the county’s pandemic total.
With 11,829 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 total pandemic death average of 0.9%, according to the state’s data, and the statewide 1.1% rate for the pandemic.
No other information about the people whose deaths were reported Thursday, such as their age, gender, vaccination status or hometown, was reported.
Before the deaths reported Thursday and three others reported Tuesday, 72% of Whatcom’s 89 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, Jan. 3. An additional nine deaths (10%) were in people between 50 and 64, while 12 (13%) were in people between 35 and 49.
Through Monday, 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, though there have been four deaths among people in their 30s and 13 in their 40s.
Six of the eight deaths reported Dec. 19-24 were in unvaccinated or partially vaccinated residents, according to a report by the Whatcom County Health Department on Friday, Dec. 31. Of the 60 deaths since Aug. 22 where vaccination status has been reported, 38 (63%) have been among unvaccinated residents, The Herald’s analysis showed.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a person is still considered “fully vaccinated” two weeks after receiving their second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Booster and third doses are not yet factored in.
Isolation and quarantine facility
Whatcom County’s isolation and quarantine facility on Byron Avenue has been filled to 100%, Whatcom County Health Department Communicable Disease and Epidemiology Manager Cindy Hollinsworth told The Herald in an email.
“The increase in usage corresponds to the rise in cases,” Hollinsworth wrote.
Whatcom County began using the former Motel 6 on Byron Avenue as an isolation and quarantine site for people exposed to COVID-19 during the early stages of the pandemic in April of 2020.
Isolation is for people who have symptoms of the respiratory disease but don’t need hospitalization. Quarantine is for people who have been exposed to COVID-19, but aren’t showing symptoms.
Other Whatcom numbers
The latest report on the state dashboard also shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 1,067 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic — up eight from the last report. St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 42 patients with COVID-related symptoms on Friday, Jan. 7 — down six from its pandemic record high of 48 on Thursday.
▪ A weekly COVID-related hospitalization rate of 9.7 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological hospitalization data from Dec. 22-28 — up from 7.5 from a week earlier (Dec. 15-22).
▪ 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. The state reports 69.5% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 63.8% 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. All of the 39 counties in Washington state and 98% of counties nationwide also were listed in the “High” transmission category.
