Conditions ‘strained,’ but Bellingham hospital meeting demand with record 79 COVID patients
St. Joseph’s hospital in Bellingham reported that it treated a pandemic record 79 patients for symptoms related to COVID-19 on Tuesday, Jan. 18.
That was up nine patients from the day-old pandemic record 70 patients it treated a day earlier on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and up more than 43% from the 55 patients it reported during a snapshot on Friday, Jan. 14.
Before the start of 2022, the hospital had not had more than 42 COVID-related patients during its daily snapshot, but it has surpassed that mark every day except Jan. 1 so far this year.
“As far as treatment goes, there is no difference between treating 40 COVID patients and 80 — they all require more intensive care, based on their symptoms, as well as full protection for themselves and the staff caring for them,” PeaceHealth Northwest Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sudhakar Karlapudi told The Bellingham Herald in an emailed statement Tuesday. “Although conditions are strained, and definitely not within normal operating parameters, we are managing well to meet the needs with appropriate staffing, supplies and space.
“I remain profoundly grateful for our nurses, doctors and all support staff who are literally working around-the-clock to care for our patients and keep the hospital open to care for the community.”
Karlapudi has previously told The Herald throughout the pandemic that hospital staff had plans for increasing space dedicated to patients suffering from COVID-19, should the need arise.
Now those plans are being put into action.
“As the demand for isolation, a requirement for all inpatients with COVID, has risen, we have expanded the number of beds that can meet this criteria,” Karlapudi wrote Tuesday. “Our teams are actively implementing detailed expansion plans that include safe and creative solutions to accommodate the necessary equipment, supplies and other isolation requirements necessary to treat a patient with COVID.”
Karlapudi reported that in addition to the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit, a regular nursing unit has been turned into an area treating only COVID-related patients, and several other dedicated COVID beds in portions of other units have been identified.
Additionally, the hospital is building a temporary structure under the overhang in the Emergency Department’s driveway in anticipation of a sustained COVID patient surge, Karlapudi wrote.
“This structure, which can be put up and dismantled as needed, will provide flexible space that could be used as an extension of the triage process, waiting room, or lower acuity patient space, dependent on need,” Karlapudi wrote.
With three new COVID-related hospitalizations reported on the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard Friday, Whatcom County had a total of 65 reported last week. That was a pandemic high, beating out the 45 reported one week earlier.
Whatcom County has a weekly COVID-related hospitalization rate of 19.7 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed data from Dec. 30 to Jan. 5, according to the state, which is up from 10.1 one week earlier (Dec. 23-29). But the percent of COVID-19 cases resulting in hospitalization dropped slightly from 2.2% of 1,064 total cases between Dec. 23 and Dec. 29 to 1.9% of 2,424 total cases between Dec. 30 and Jan. 5, The Herald’s analysis of state data showed.
Whatcom has the ninth-highest weekly hospitalization rate among the state’s 39 counties, according to the state dashboard on Friday.
Whatcom’s COVID breakthrough data
Half of the six COVID-related deaths Jan. 2-8 were among unvaccinated or partially vaccinated residents, according to the Whatcom County Health Department’s latest COVID-19 Data Report, including one resident who was in his 30s.
Among the deaths were:
▪ One unvaccinated woman in her 30s.
▪ Two unvaccinated men in their 70s.
▪ One vaccinated woman in her 70s.
▪ One vaccinated man in his 60s.
▪ One vaccinated man in his 70s.
Since Aug. 22, 64% of Whatcom County’s 73 COVID-related deaths have been unvaccinated or partially vaccinated residents, The Herald’s analysis of the county’s data found, including 71% of the 21 deaths reported since Dec. 19.
The county also reported that 29 of Whatcom’s 45 COVID-related hospitalizations (64%) Jan. 2-8 were among unvaccinated or partially vaccinated residents. Since Aug. 22, 80% of the county’s 491 hospitalizations have been among unvaccinated or partially vaccinated residents, The Herald’s analysis found, including 73% of the 83 hospitalizations since Dec. 19.
Case-wise, the country reported that there were 1,227 positive tests among Whatcom’s vaccinated population Jan. 2-8.
Based on the 145,249 residents in the county who would have been fully vaccinated by Jan. 2, according to previous reports on the state dashboard, that works out to a weekly infection rate of 845 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 vaccinated residents, The Herald’s analysis found.
That was still less than half the infection rate for unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, The Herald’s analysis found. The county reported 1,942 cases among that segment of the population, which worked out to a weekly infection rate of 2,237 cases per 100,000 residents.
Since Aug. 22, 69% of Whatcom’s 12,684 COVID-19 cases have been among unvaccinated or partially vaccinated residents, The Herald found, including 64% of the 5,110 cases since Dec. 19.
As of Friday, the state reported that 345,116 vaccinations have been administered in Whatcom County — an increase of 8,675 reported doses last week — and that 70.0% of Whatcom’s total population had initiated vaccination and 64.3% has completed it. The state also reported 68,332 additional doses, which include extra doses administered to immunocompromised residents and booster shots, have been administered in the county.
More Whatcom numbers
Whatcom County broke its week-old record for the number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported in a week by the state with 2,612 reported last week. The previous record was 2,069 confirmed cases reported Jan. 2-8, and the county had never topped 700 before the past two weeks.
With 364 new cases reported by the state on Friday, Whatcom County now has a pandemic total of 23,367 confirmed cases.
Other weekly Whatcom County COVID based on data released Friday on the state dashboard shows that:
▪ With an additional 120 probable cases reported Friday, Whatcom had 544 reported last week resulting from a positive antigen test not confirmed by a molecular test. That was 231 more than the week before and brought the county’s pandemic total to 2,485.
▪ Whatcom’s weekly infection rate stands at 1,063 cases per 100,000 residents based on the state’s most recently completed data from Dec. 30 to Jan. 4, which is up from 467 the week before (Dec. 23-29) and marked the first time during the pandemic the county had a weekly infection rate higher than 1,000. Whatcom has the sixth-highest weekly infection rate of the 39 counties in the state, according to the state dashboard.
▪ The state is still working “to increase its capacity to process the increased testing data volume received in the last few months” by Feb. 28.
▪ The statewide Effective Reproductive Number (R-effective) shows that each person who tests positive for COVID-19 is estimated to infect 1.80 others as of Dec. 25, which is down from 2.03 on Dec. 18. Anything above 1.0 means that transmission of the disease is increasing.s
The CDC’s COVID Data Tracker on Monday continued to list the level of transmission in Whatcom County as “High” (the highest of four classifications). All of Washington state’s 39 counties and 99.6% of counties nationwide are listed in the “High” category.
Home test reporting
With more residents turning to home tests, due in part to overwhelming demand on the community testing site at Bellingham International Airport as well as area pharmacies and clinics, the Whatcom County Health Department acknowledged last week that many tests are going unreported.
“More residents are turning to testing at home, and most of these results are currently going unreported,” the health department said in its weekly data report. “Due to these factors, many infections will go unreported, and despite extremely high case counts in the county already, actual levels are suspected to be much higher.”
On Friday, the health department announced in a Facebook post that the results of tests can be reported through a survey on its website at https://bit.ly/3riktmf.
“When the number of COVID-19 cases surges, contact tracers can’t always keep up, and you may not get a call from a contact tracer,” Friday’s post reads. “You should follow the latest isolation guidelines, and notify your close contacts that you tested positive. Positive PRC tests are automatically reported to us.”
Library returns to curbside pickup
The Bellingham Public Library announced that the community’s high COVID-19 infection rate is forcing the library to return to curbside-only pickup on Tuesday.
Curbside appointments will be available from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. beginning Wednesday, Jan. 19, at the Central branch only. The Fairhaven and Barkley locations will be closed, and all holds at those branches will be transferred to the Central branch.
Instructions on Using Curbside Holds Pickup Services and how to schedule a Curbside Pickup appointment, as well as access to the Library catalog and digital services are available at BellinghamPublicLibrary.org.
Returns bins will remain open at all branches.
