How big is omicron’s impact? Whatcom’s COVID pandemic case total jumped by 66% in January
Two out of five COVID-19 cases in Whatcom County throughout the entire pandemic were reported during the month of January, as the county wrapped up the first month of 2022 with its largest reported increase yet.
Whatcom’s pandemic case total increased by 1,414 new cases over the weekend, according to the Washington State Department of Health COVID-19 Data Dashboard on Monday, Jan. 31. The county also saw 20 new hospitalizations and one new death related to COVID-19.
The previous largest reported increase in cases was 1,279 on Jan. 18.
The county now has seen 33,727 total cases (confirmed and probable combined) during the pandemic, according to the latest report by the state.
During the month of January, that total increased by 66% or a total of 13,413 cases — far and away Whatcom’s largest monthly increase and 40% of its pandemic total, to date. The county averaged 432.7 new reported cases per day, nearly six times higher than the previous record of 73.9 per day set in September of 2021.
The county also set new monthly records for reported COVID-related hospitalizations (253) and deaths (33) in January, beating the old records of 231 and 27 from October 2021.
Whatcom’s latest COVID death
The death reported Monday brought the county’s pandemic total to 234 and was of a person who first tested positive for COVID Jan. 7, The Herald’s analysis of the state’s epidemiological data showed. Whatcom has now had 15 deaths epidemiologically linked to January, after it had 25 in December.
Since Aug. 1, the beginning of the delta surge, there have been 121 epidemiological deaths, The Herald found, which is 52% of the county’s pandemic total. The county has seen 23 epidemiological deaths since Dec. 19, which was approximately when Whatcom began to see case counts climb steeply as the omicron variant took hold.
With 23,312 total cases (confirmed and probable combined) in the county since Aug. 1, Whatcom has seen 0.5% 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 0.7%.
No other information about the person whose death was reported Monday, such as their age, gender, vaccination status or hometown, was reported.
Through data reported by the Whatcom County Health Department Thursday, Jan. 27, 87% of the first 230 COVID-related deaths in the county were in residents 60 and older, including 111 deaths in residents 80 and older. Though the county has not seen any deaths of people younger than 30, the data shows, the deaths of five residents in their 30s and 13 residents in their 40s have been linked to COVID-19.
As of the Whatcom County Health Department’s latest COVID-19 Data Report released Friday, Jan. 28, 64% of Whatcom County’s 86 COVID-related deaths since Aug. 22, were in unvaccinated or partially vaccinated residents, The Herald’s analysis shows, including 68% of the 34 deaths since Dec. 19.
Other Whatcom numbers
The latest report on the state dashboard, which is now only updated on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings, also shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 29,725 confirmed cases during the pandemic — up 1,171 from the last report.
▪ 4,002 additional probable COVID cases during the pandemic — up 243 from the last report — resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.
▪ A weekly infection rate of 1,399 cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data Jan. 12-18 — down from 1,559 one week earlier (Jan. 5-11).
▪ With 12,340 total cases epidemiologically linked to January, one in 19 Whatcom County residents has tested positive for COVID during the first 30 days of 2022.
▪ 1,283 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic — up 20 from the last report.
▪ St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 53 patients with COVID-related symptoms on Friday, which was down three from its last report and its lowest number of COVID-related patients since it treated 48 on Jan. 10.
▪ A weekly COVID-related hospitalization rate of 24.1 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological hospitalization data from Jan. 12-18 — down from 28.5 from a week earlier (Jan. 5-11).
▪ 1.7% of the 3,190 total COVID cases in the county Jan. 12-18 resulted in hospitalization, The Herald’s analysis of state epidemiological data found, which was down from 1.8% of the 3,555 total cases a week earlier (Jan. 5-11).
▪ 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.
▪ 358,560 vaccinations administered during the pandemic — up 2,636 from the last report. The state reports 73.5% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 66.9% has completed it. The state also reports Whatcom has administered 78,748 “additional doses,” which includes third doses for immunocompromised residents and booster doses, have been administered.
Additionally, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Data Tracker Tuesday listed Whatcom’s level of transmission as “High” — the highest of four categories. All of the 39 counties in Washington state and all but six counties nationwide also were listed in the “High” transmission category.
Whatcom schools COVID update
The COVID-19 dashboards on Whatcom County school district websites showed:
▪ Bellingham Public Schools has reported 612 COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break, including four new cases with a possible exposure window of Jan. 24-28 at Shuksan Middle School.
▪ Blaine School District reported 327 total COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break and listed no new cases since Jan. 23.
▪ Lynden School District reported 206 total COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break and listed no new cases since Jan. 21.
▪ Meridian School District reported 256 COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break and listed 60 new cases with a possible exposure window of Jan. 24-28: five cases in the Meridian Parent Partnership Program, 28 cases at Irene Reither Elementary, 14 cases at Meridian Middle School and 13 cases at Meridian High.
▪ Mount Baker School District reported 155 COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break, including four new cases listed Monday with a possible exposure window of Jan. 15-21: one new case at Acme Elementary (10 total cases with same exposure window) and three new cases among district staff and programs (six total cases).
▪ Nooksack Valley School District reported 168 COVID-19 cases since returning from winter break and listed no new cases since Jan. 22.
▪ Ferndale School District reported that as of Tuesday, 69 students or staff had a positive test reported to the Whatcom County Health Department in the past seven days — up 12 from the last report. Thirty-one of those people were on a school campus during their infectious period.
Western Washington University reported that it had 118 students and 15 employees test positive for COVID-19 Jan. 24-30, as its totals for the winter quarter increased to 739 students and 78 employees. During the 2021-22 school year, the school has reported 855 students and 91 employees have tested positive.
State re-opens test portal
The Washington State Department of Health announced Monday that it was re-opening the portal that allows residents to order COVID-19 rapid tests online and have them shipped to their homes. The site to order up to five free tests is sayyescovidhometest.org.
The state first opened the portal on Jan. 21 with 1.4 million tests, and the supply was exhausted within eight hours, according to a news release on the re-opening. The release said approximately another 120,000 households can receive free tests from this batch, and tests should arrive within a few days of the order being placed.
“We are thrilled to be able to open the portal for the second time this month to increase access to these tests statewide,” Secretary of Health Dr. Umair A. Shah said in the release. “We thank our partners at Care Evolution and Amazon for their support in making this happen.”
