One in 77 Whatcom residents tested positive for COVID-19 during first 10 days of 2022
January of 2022 has already produced more COVID-19 cases in Whatcom County than any of the first 22 months of the pandemic, as one in 77 Whatcom residents has tested positive this year, alone.
Whatcom County saw another 393 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 52 additional probable cases reported Tuesday, Jan. 10, on the Washington State Department of Health COVID-19 Data Dashboard.
That pushed Whatcom’s pandemic totals to 22,282 confirmed cases and 2,070 probable cases, which result from a positive antigen test not confirmed by a molecular test.
For the seventh straight day, Whatcom County broke its pandemic record for weekly infection rate with 673 cases per 100,000 residents based on the most recently completed data from Dec. 27 to Jan. 2, according to the state. That was more than 2½ times higher than it was just one week earlier (Dec. 20-26), when Whatcom had a rate of 252.
As of Tuesday’s data release, which includes epidemiological data through Monday, Jan. 10, Whatcom County has now had 2,978 total COVID-19 cases (confirmed and probable combined) epidemiologically linked to January, The Bellingham Herald’s analysis found.
That already exceeds the 2,861 total cases epidemiologically linked to December, which was Whatcom’s previous monthly high for the pandemic.
It also means that approximately one out of every 77 Whatcom County residents (based on the county’s population of 229,247 residents) tested positive for COVID during the first 10 days of January. Since Christmas (Dec. 26 through Jan. 10) the rate is one in every 54 residents testing positive.
And those numbers are likely to be even more staggering, as epidemiological data from Jan. 3 to Jan. 10 is still incomplete, and case numbers are likely to increase.
“Where we are now is at a scale like nothing we’ve seen in the past,” Whatcom County Health Director Erika Lautenbach said during an online briefing Tuesday afternoon. “It pales in comparison.”
Though last week’s SARS-CoV-2 Sequencing and Variants in Washington State report listed Whatcom County with only 28 confirmed omicron cases, Whatcom County Co-Health Officer Dr. Amy Harley said the variant is likely having a much larger impact on Whatcom’s recent case counts.
“We know that virtually all the cases in Whatcom County are likely to be omicron right now,” Harley said during Tuesday’s briefing. “There is an early marker that is visible on the PCR signal that is consistent with omicron, and that’s close to 90% in our county. So even though we don’t have the genotype, chances are that we’re close to that number in Whatcom County.”
Other Whatcom numbers
The latest report on the state dashboard also shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 1,087 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic — unchanged from the last report, as the state reported another “interruption in our data systems.” St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating a pandemic record 64 patients with COVID-related symptoms on Wednesday, Jan. 12. The hospital also corrected the number of COVID-related patients it was treating Tuesday to 61, which matched the old record high set two days earlier.
▪ A weekly COVID-related hospitalization rate of 16.2 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological hospitalization data from Dec. 27to Jan. 2 — up from 8.8 from a week earlier (Dec. 20-26).
▪ 211 COVID-related deaths during the pandemic —unchanged from the last report, as the state reported another “interruption in our data systems.”
▪ 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.
▪ 338,707 vaccinations administered during the pandemic. The state reports 69.7% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 64.0% has completed it.
Additionally, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Data Tracker Wednesday listed Whatcom’s level of transmission as “High” — the highest of four categories. All of the 39 counties in Washington state and 99% of counties nationwide also were listed in the “High” transmission category.
Whatcom long-term care update
Whatcom County had 42 new COVID-19 cases associated with its long-term care facilities reported last week and three new COVID-related deaths, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s latest COVID-19 Long-Term Care Report.
According to the report, which was released Tuesday and reflected data through Monday, Whatcom County long-term care facilities have had 749 confirmed cases during the pandemic. The number of COVID-related deaths related to Whatcom’s long-term care facilities climbed to 81, according to the state’s data.
The 749 cases mean that long-term care facilities had 3% of the total cases reported in Whatcom County as of Jan. 10, while the 81 related deaths represented 38% of the county’s death total.
Statewide, long-term care facilities have been associated with 29,007 cases (3% of the state’s total cases) and 3,274 related deaths (33% of the state’s death total).
Whatcom schools COVID update
The COVID-19 dashboards on Whatcom County school district websites showed:
▪ Bellingham Public Schools has reported 133 cases in its schools since the winter break, including 20 new cases listed Tuesday. Of those, 11 had a possible exposure window for Jan. 3-7: one new case at Birchwood Elementary (two cases previously reported within the same window), five new cases at Fairhaven Middle School (three cases previously reported within the same window), seven cases at Kulshan Middle School, one new case at Roosevelt Elementary (one case previously reported within the same window), one new case at Shuksan Middle School (five cases previously reported within the same window), two new cases at Silver Beach Elementary (10 cases previously reported within the same window) and one new case at Wade King Elementary (two cases previously reported within the same window). The other nine cases had possible exposure windows of Jan. 10-14: two cases at Birchwood Elementary, four cases at Fairhaven Middle School and one case each at Silver Beach Elementary, Sunnyland Elmentary and Whatcom Middle School.
▪ Blaine School District has reported 225 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, but it hasn’t listed any cases since the return from winter break.
▪ Lynden School District has reported 293 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, but it hasn’t reported any cases since Dec. 17 have been listed.
▪ Meridian School District has reported 90 COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, but it hasn’t reported any cases since the return from winter break.
▪ Mount Baker School District has reported 63 COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, but it hasn’t reported any cases since the return from winter break.
▪ Nooksack Valley School District has reported 44 COVID-19 cases in its schools since Oct. 31, but it hasn’t reported any cases since Dec. 18.
▪ Ferndale School District reported Tuesday that 58 students or staff had a positive test reported to the Whatcom County Health Department in the past seven days — up 21 from the last report. Thirty-three of those people were on a school campus during their infectious period.
COVID causing Whatcom County changes
Whatcom County Superior Court Presiding Judge Rob Olson issued an administrative order Jan. 4 suspending jury trials until Feb. 14 due to the rising spread of COVID-19 across Whatcom County.
Jury trials were last delayed in late September 2020 until November.
Jury trials have been delayed or suspended nearly 10 times since the pandemic began in March 2020.
The Whatcom County Auditor’s Office and Whatcom County Treasurer’s Office also announced Tuesday in separate releases that they would be limiting in-person services and will be open by appointment only due to the increase in COVID cases.
Bellingham Parks and Recreation also announced Wednesday that due to COVID-related staff shortages, Arne Hanna Aquatic Center will be closed until at least Jan. 18.
“Be safe Bellingham, we’ll get through this,” a Facebook post by the department read.
—Denver Pratt, dpratt@bhamherald.com.
This story was originally published January 12, 2022 at 10:01 AM.
