Bellingham hospital reports treating its fewest COVID-related patients since delta’s onset
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported Tuesday, Feb. 22, that it was treating its fewest number of COVID-related patients since the onset of the delta surge nearly 6½ months ago.
The hospital reported that 20 patients were being treated for COVID-related symptoms on Tuesday, which was the smallest daily snapshot reported since it had 19 on Aug. 7, 2021.
In the 199 days since then, the hospital has reported an average of more than 35 COVID-related patients per day, The Bellingham Herald’s analysis found.
The Washington State Department of Health COVID-19 Data Dashboard, which was not updated Monday, Feb. 21, due to the President’s Day holiday, reported Whatcom County has seen 1,419 COVID-related hospitalizations throughout the pandemic, which was an increase of 25 from the previous week.
The county’s weekly hospitalization rate stands at 26.8 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data from Jan. 30 to Feb. 5, which is up from 22.4 from one week earlier (Jan. 23 to 29), and the state reports Whatcom has the 21st highest hospitalization rate among the 39 counties in the state.
Most recent deaths
Citing data processing errors by the the state Department of Health, the Whatcom County Health Department’s data update released Friday, Feb. 18, did not include the vaccination status of the six deaths reported last week.
“Our data team is looking at other measures to report deaths that better represent the distribution of these events across the population and take into account the additional vaccinations that are now common,” the report stated.
Among the six deaths reported last week, the health department reported that one was of a man in his 40s and another was a woman in her 60s. The remaining four deaths, which were split equally along gender lines, were of residents 70 and older.
The Herald’s analysis of data in previous reports showed that between Dec. 19 and Feb. 12, 60% of the 45 deaths in Whatcom County were among unvaccinated or partially vaccinated residents.
As of Friday, the state dashboard reported that 67.6% of all residents in Whatcom County were fully vaccinated.
According to the CDC, people are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving their second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or their single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
More Whatcom numbers
With the state dashboard twice adjusting Whatcom’s case numbers down last week, the county’s number of total cases increased by only 22 last week — its smallest reported increase since it had 15 the first week of June 2020.
But the county’s data report said that the small weekly increase should be taken with a grain of salt.
“As has been the case for several weeks, many residents are turning to at-home tests and most of these results are underreported,” the county report stated. “In addition, DOH is still experiencing data processing errors, and cases for this reporting week include a significant number of duplicates.”
The county reported seeing a small decline in the number of confirmed and probable cases for the week of Feb. 6 through Feb. 12 and that “detected infections are still at a higher level than any previous surge during the pandemic.”
The weekly case rate during the week was 564 cases per 100,000 residents in the county between Feb. 6 and 12, the county reported. The state’s data shows Whatcom’s infection rate is the 19th lowest among the 39 counties in the state.
The county health department also reported that case rates are trending downward in most age groups, except for the 5-17 and 25-44, where infection rates have “plateaued at a high level.”
Whatcom schools COVID update
The Herald’s analysis of data published by the seven Whatcom County school districts shows that COVID-19 infection rates in the county’s schools dropped approximately 47% during the second week of February, compared to the week before.
The seven school districts reported a total of 267 new COVID-19 cases Feb. 6-12, or approximately 12.2 cases per 1,000 students. That was down from a rate of 22.9 between Jan. 30 and Feb. 5, The Herald’s analysis found.
Since returning from winter break, the seven districts have reported a total of 3,026 cases, or approximately 138.1 per 1,000 students.
Except for Ferndale, which does not report case counts from individual schools, Whatcom County elementary schools have seen infection rates of 99.9 cases per 1,000 students in elementary schools, 102.4 cases per 1,000 students in middle schools and 103.4 cases per 1,000 students in high schools since winter break, The Herald’s analysis found.
The COVID-19 dashboards on Whatcom County school district websites showed:
▪ Bellingham Public Schools has reported 856 total COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break, or approximately 71.0 cases per 1,000 students, according to The Herald’s analysis. The district reported 73 cases the week of Feb. 6-12, which was one fewer than the week before.
▪ Blaine School District has reported 459 total COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break, or approximately 197.6 cases per 1,000 students, according to The Herald’s analysis. The district reported 42 cases the week of Feb. 6-12, which was 12 fewer than the week before.
▪ Lynden School District has reported 386 total COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break, or approximately 106.5 cases per 1,000 students, according to The Herald’s analysis. The district reported 36 cases the week of Feb. 6-12, which was 21 fewer than the week before.
▪ Meridian School District has reported 337 COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break, or approximately 184.6 cases per 1,000 students, according to The Herald’s analysis. The district reported 27 cases the week of Feb. 6-12, which was 27 fewer than the week before.
▪ Mount Baker School District has reported 284 COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break, or approximately 152.9 cases per 1,000 students, according to The Herald’s analysis. The district reported 23 cases the week of Feb. 6-12, which was 16 fewer than the week before.
▪ Nooksack Valley School District has reported 318 cases in its schools since winter break, or approximately 160.3 cases per 1,000 students, according to The Herald’s analysis. The district reported 28 cases the week of Feb. 6-12, which was 15 fewer than the week before.
▪ Ferndale School District reported Tuesday, Feb. 22, that 24 students or staff had positive COVID-19 tests reported to the Whatcom County Health Department, which was down from 34 reported on Feb. 14.
