Whatcom County schools reported 15 COVID-19 outbreaks during fall, state report shows
Whatcom County schools saw 15 COVID-19 outbreaks involving a total of 126 cases before leaving for the winter break last fall, according to the latest report from the Washington State Department of Health.
In all, 13% of Whatcom County schools saw outbreaks during fall classes, matching the statewide average, the COVID-19 Outbreaks in Washington State K-12 Schools report released Tuesday, Feb. 1, stated.
Outbreaks are defined as multiple COVID-19 cases involving at least 10% of students, teachers or staff within a specified group within a school or three or more cases within a specified group that have the onset of symptoms within 14 days of each other and are epidemiologically linked to a school setting.
Statewide between Aug. 1 and Dec. 31, 2021, there were 500 outbreaks in schools involving 4,446 cases, according to the report, which added that 89% of those cases were among student-age children.
Schools saw an increase in the number of sports-related outbreaks in November and December, according to the report, as the percent of outbreaks involving sports jumped to 34% during those months from 14% in August, September and October. The report cited the enhanced sports-related testing in December due to increased outbreaks and routine screening testing required for sports as possible reasons for the higher proportion of sports-related outbreaks.
High schools statewide also saw an increase in outbreaks in November and December, according to the report.
The Bellingham, Blaine, Lynden, Meridian and Mount Baker school districts reported 321 total COVID cases on their respective dashboards between August and December, The Bellingham Herald’s analysis shows. Nooksack Valley reported an additional 44 cases once it began reporting on Oct. 31.
Of those 365 cases, 271 were at the high school level, meaning those schools had a combined infection rate of 37.8 per 1,000 students, The Herald found. Whatcom elementary schools had an infection rate of 32.5 per 1,000 students, while middle and junior highs’ infection rate was 33.4.
Whatcom schools have mirrored the rest of the community during the omicron surge, as there had already been 1,606 cases reported since the return from winter break by the Bellingham, Blaine, Lynden, Meridian, Mount Baker and Nooksack Valley school districts as of Wednesday, Feb. 1, The Herald’s analysis showed. Infections rates for the first month since winter break were 61.4 cases per 1,000 students at the elementary level, 74.7 in middle and high schools and 73.0 in high schools.
Whatcom’s latest COVID data
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported Wednesday, Jan. 26, that it was treating 45 patients with COVID-related symptoms. That is down eight from the hospital’s last report and the lowest the hospital has reported since it had a snapshot of 42 COVID-related patients on Jan. 4.
The Washington State Department of Health COVID-19 Data Dashboard is only updated on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings.
Monday’s latest report on the state dashboard showed Whatcom County has:
▪ 33,727 total COVID-19 cases during the pandemic. Of those, 37% (12,340 cases) have been epidemiologically linked to January.
▪ 1,272 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic. Of those, 18% (232 hospitalizations) have been epidemiologically linked to January.
▪ 234 COVID-related deaths during the pandemic. Of those, 6% (15 deaths) have been epidemiologically linked to January.
▪ 358,560 vaccinations administered during the pandemic. 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 Wednesday 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 long-term care update
Whatcom County had 41 new COVID-19 cases and five new COVID-related deaths associated with its long-term care facilities reported last week, 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, Jan. 31, Whatcom County long-term care facilities have had 906 confirmed cases during the pandemic. The number of COVID-related deaths related to Whatcom’s long-term care facilities climbed to 90, according to the state’s data.
The 906 cases mean that long-term care facilities had 3% of the total cases reported in Whatcom County as of Jan. 31, while the 90 related deaths represented 38% of the county’s death total.
Statewide, long-term care facilities have been associated with 33,285 cases (2% of the state’s total cases) and 3,380 related deaths (31% 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 651 COVID-19 cases in its schools since the winter break, including 34 new cases listed Tuesday. Two of those cases had a possible exposure window of Jan. 18-21: one new case at Kulshan Middle School (14 total cases with same exposure window) and one new case at Wade King Elementary (three total cases). Another 27 of the new cases had a possible exposure window of Jan. 24-28: three new cases at Alderwood Elementary (six total cases), two new cases at Bellingham High (seven total cases), one new case at Brichwood Elementary (three total cases), two new cases at Carl Cozier Elementary (four total cases), one case at Columbia Elementary, five new cases at Kulshan Middle School (six total cases), three new cases at Northern Heights Elementary (five total cases), two new cases at Roosevelt Elementary (five total cases), two new cases at Sehome High (four total cases), one new case at Shuksan Middle School (five total cases), two new cases at Silver Beach Elementary (six total cases), one new case at Squalicum High (12 total cases) and three new cases at Whatcom Middle School (17 total cases). The remaining five cases had a possible exposure window of Jan. 31-Feb. 1: four cases at Alderwood Elementary and one case at Bellingham High.
▪ 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 no new cases since Jan. 28.
▪ Mount Baker School District reported 155 COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break and listed no new cases since Jan. 21.
▪ 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 Wednesday, 71 students or staff had a positive test reported to the Whatcom County Health Department in the past seven days — up two from the last report. Twenty-seven of those people were on a school campus during their infectious period.
