As COVID infection rates drop across Whatcom, which region was hit hardest by omicron?
Though COVID-19 case numbers continued to pile up at high rates throughout Whatcom County, all seven school district regions in the county saw significant drops in their infection rates last week.
The region covered by the Blaine School District saw the largest drop (72%) in the weekly rate of new cases per 100,000 residents last week, according to The Bellingham Herald’s analysis of location data released by the Whatcom County Health Department on Thursday, Feb. 3, but all seven regions saw triple-digit decreases in their weekly infection rates.
That’s a further indication that the county is on the back end of its omicron surge, which pushed case rates in January to five times the highest peaks the county had previously seen during the pandemic.
The Herald’s analysis of the county’s reports showed that since Dec. 19, which was approximately when Whatcom’s case numbers began to climb steeply due to the omicron variant, each of the seven regions felt omicron’s impact relatively evenly.
On the high end of the case rates were the Ferndale and Nooksack Valley regions, which each saw approximately one in every 13 residents test positive for COVID-19 since Dec. 19. Mount Baker, meanwhile, had the lowest rate with approximately one in every 21 residents testing positive since omicron’s onset.
Bellingham and Meridian each saw rates of about one in every 20 residents testing positive since Dec. 19, while Blaine and Lynden were closer to one in 14 residents.
As of Thursday’s report, which included data through Saturday, Jan. 29, a total of 14,348 Whatcom County residents had tested positive for COVID, meaning at least one in 16 residents countywide were infected with COVID so far during the omicron surge.
The county health department releases weekly data on the location of COVID-19 cases using school districts as geographical boundaries, including each region’s number of total cases during the pandemic, infection rate, hospitalization rate, percentage of residents who have initiated vaccination and a breakdown of case rates by age.
Overall, Whatcom County saw 3,055 new cases between Jan. 23 and Jan. 29 — down from the 3,246 new cases the county reported the previous week.
That gave Whatcom County a weekly infection rate of 1,016 cases per 100,000 residents, the health department reported. Four of the county’s regions had infection rates lower than that mark, according to the county’s data this week.
As of Monday, Jan. 31, the Washington State Department of Health reported that nearly 74% of all Whatcom County residents had initiated vaccination and 67% had completed it.
Here is what the health department’s latest data showed for the seven regions in the county:
▪ Bellingham: Had a weekly infection rate of 875 cases per 100,000 residents (down from 1,327 a week earlier) with 1,380 new cases reported. The region’s hospitalization rate dropped to 20 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents, and 82% of the region’s residents have initiated vaccination.
▪ Blaine: Had a weekly infection rate of 934 cases per 100,000 residents (down from 1,772 a week earlier) with 249 new cases reported. The region’s hospitalization rate dropped to five COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents, and 75% of the region’s residents have initiated vaccination.
▪ Ferndale: Had a weekly infection rate of 1,232 cases per 100,000 residents (down from 1,653 a week earlier) with 544 new cases reported. The region’s hospitalization rate dropped to 20 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents, and 71% of the region’s residents have initiated vaccination.
▪ Lynden: Had a weekly infection rate of 1,404 cases per 100,000 residents (down from 1,632 a week earlier) with 373 new cases reported. The region’s hospitalization rate climbed to 28 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents, and 58% of the region’s residents have initiated vaccination.
▪ Meridian: Had a weekly infection rate of 900 cases per 100,000 residents (down from 1,105 a week earlier) with 134 new cases reported. The region’s hospitalization rate climbed to 27 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents, and 67% of the region’s residents have initiated vaccination.
▪ Mount Baker: Had a weekly infection rate of 759 cases per 100,000 residents (down from 878 a week earlier) with 171 new cases reported. The region’s hospitalization rate dropped to 31 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents, and 50% of the region’s residents have initiated vaccination.
▪ Nooksack Valley: Had a weekly infection rate of 1,386 cases per 100,000 residents (down from 1,708 a week earlier) with 204 new cases reported. The region’s hospitalization rate climbed to 26 COVID-related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents, and 55% of the region’s residents have initiated vaccination.
Whatcom’s latest COVID data
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported Friday, Feb. 4, that it was treating 47 patients with COVID-related symptoms — up two from its previous report.
The Washington State Department of Health COVID-19 Data Dashboard now is updated only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings.
Wednesday’s latest report on the state dashboard showed Whatcom County has:
▪ 34,259 total COVID-19 cases during the pandemic. Of those, 38% (12,848 cases) have been epidemiologically linked to January.
▪ 1,288 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic. Of those, 19% (249 hospitalizations) have been epidemiologically linked to January.
▪ 238 COVID-related deaths during the pandemic. Of those, 7% (17 deaths) have been epidemiologically linked to January.
▪ 359,300 vaccinations administered during the pandemic. The state reports 73.6% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 67.0% has completed it. The state also reports Whatcom has administered 79,407 “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 Friday 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 698 COVID-19 cases in its schools since the winter break, including 47 new cases listed Thursday. Thirty-four of those cases had a possible exposure window of Jan. 24-28: one new case at Bellingham High (eight total cases during the same exposure window), one new case at Birchwood Elementary (four total cases), one new case at Columbia Elementary (two total cases), three new cases at Geneva Elementary (six total cases), four new cases at Happy Valley Elementary (10 total cases), four new cases at Kulshan Middle School (10 total cases), one new case at Roosevelt Elementary (six total cases), four new cases at Shuksan Middle School (nine total cases), four new cases at Silver Beach Elementary (10 total cases), six new cases at Squalicum High (18 total cases), one new case at Sunnyland Elementary (two total cases) and four new cases at Whatcom Middle School (21 total cases). The other 13 cases had a possible exposure window of Jan. 31 to Feb. 4: three new cases at Bellingham High (four total cases), three cases at Geneva Elementary, two cases at Happy Valley Elementary, four cases at Squalicum High and one case at Whatcom Middle School.
▪ Blaine School District reported 363 total COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break and listed no new cases since Jan. 30.
▪ Lynden School District reported 280 total COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break and listed no new cases since Jan. 28.
▪ 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 223 COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break and listed no new cases since Jan. 28.
▪ Nooksack Valley School District reported 247 COVID-19 cases since returning from winter break and listed no new cases since Jan. 29.
▪ Ferndale School District reported that as of Friday, 71 students or staff had a positive test reported to the Whatcom County Health Department in the past seven days — down one from the last report. Twenty-eight of those people were on a school campus during their infectious period.
