Bellingham hospital reports fewest COVID patients since August, but Whatcom adds a death
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported Monday that it was treating its fewest number of patients for symptoms related to COVID-19 in more than seven months.
As of Monday morning, March 7, the hospital reported it was treating 11 COVID-related patients, which was down from weekend counts of 15 on Saturday and 14 on Sunday.
The last time the hospital saw a daily snapshot as low as Monday’s was Aug. 4, 2021, when it reported 10 COVID-related patients.
In the 214 days since, the hospital has averaged treating 34 patients for COVID-related ailments per day, including a pandemic-record 79 patients on Jan. 18.
Whatcom County has seen a total of 1,429 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic, according to the Washington State Department of Health COVID-19 Data Dashboard, including 14 new hospitalizations reported Friday, March 4. Whatcom’s weekly COVID hospitalization rate stands at 8.3 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data from Feb. 17 to Feb. 23, which was down from 13.6 the week before (Feb. 10-16).
Another COVID death
Not all the news was positive for Whatcom County, as another resident’s death has been linked to COVID-19, according to the state dashboard on Friday.
Whatcom has now had 271 COVID-related deaths during the pandemic, including four reported last week.
The death reported Friday was for a person who first tested positive for COVID on Jan. 9, The Bellingham Herald’s analysis of state epidemiological data showed. So far, Whatcom County has had a pandemic-high 37 deaths epidemiologically linked to January and another seven in February.
Since Dec. 19, which is approximately when Whatcom County began to see the omicron surge, there have been 56 epidemiological deaths, The Herald found.
With 14,188 total cases (confirmed and probable combined) in the county since Dec. 19 Whatcom has seen 0.4% 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% of cases.
No other information about the person whose death was reported Friday, such as their age, gender, vaccination status or hometown, was reported.
Through data reported by the Whatcom County Health Department Thursday, March 3, 87% of the first 271 COVID-related deaths in the county were in residents 60 and older, including 129 deaths in residents 80 and older. The data also shows Whatcom has had one death of a person between 10 and 19, five deaths of people in their 30s and 15 in their 40s.
The county health department has not updated vaccine breakthrough death totals the past three weeks, but between Aug. 22, 2021, and Feb. 12, approximately 61% of deaths were among the county’s unvaccinated residents.
Whatcom latest COVID numbers
Whatcom’s COVID-19 case numbers continued to drop last week, falling to pre-omicron levels, according to a Whatcom County Health Department Facebook post on Friday.
“Keep in mind that COVID-19 is not over for good, especially for people who are at higher risk,” the post read. “Last summer, many of us thought and hoped that the pandemic was over, only to be clobbered by both Delta and Omicron. Don’t be discouraged by the possibility of another surge, but also don’t be overconfident that we’ve seen the last of COVID-19.”
Whatcom saw 90 total new COVID cases reported on the state dashboard Friday.
The latest report on the state dashboard, which is updated on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings, shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 32,096 confirmed cases during the pandemic — up 82 from the last report. Whatcom saw a total of 260 new confirmed cases reported last week.
▪ 4,442 additional probable COVID cases during the pandemic — up eight from the last report — resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test. Whatcom saw a total of 33 new probable cases reported last week.
▪ A weekly infection rate of 148 cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data Feb. 17-23 — down from 268 one week earlier (Feb. 10-16) and the lowest rate since the county was at 141 cases per 100,000 residents Dec. 9-15.
▪ 368,251 vaccinations administered during the pandemic — up 178 from the last report. The state reports 74.4% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 68.0% has completed it.
▪ 85,226 booster vaccine doses administered and 60.7% of Whatcom’s residents to receive a booster dose have done so.
Whatcom schools COVID update
The Herald’s analysis of data published by six of the seven Whatcom County school districts shows that COVID-19 infection rates in the county’s schools dropped by 40% during the last full week of February, compared to the week before.
Though the Blaine School District has not released data since Feb. 13, the other six school districts reported a total of 44 new COVID-19 cases for the week of Feb. 20-26, or approximately 3.0 cases per 1,000 students in those districts. That was down from a rate of 5.0 cases per 1,000 students for all seven districts Feb. 13-19 (excluding Blaine), The Herald’s analysis found.
Since returning from winter break, the seven districts have reported a total of 3,135 cases, or approximately 143.1 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 103.8 cases per 1,000 students in elementary schools, 106.4 cases per 1,000 students in middle schools and 106.9 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 902 total COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break, or approximately 74.8 cases per 1,000 students, according to The Herald’s analysis. The district reported 11 cases the week of Feb. 20-26, which was 22 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 has not updated its dashboard since data on Feb. 13.
▪ Lynden School District has reported 392 total COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break, or approximately 108.2 cases per 1,000 students, according to The Herald’s analysis. The district reported six cases the week of Feb. 20-26, which was seven fewer than the week before.
▪ Meridian School District has reported 346 COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break, or approximately 189.5 cases per 1,000 students, according to The Herald’s analysis. The district reported three cases the week of Feb. 20-26, which was three fewer than the week before.
▪ Mount Baker School District has reported 292 COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break, or approximately 157.2 cases per 1,000 students, according to The Herald’s analysis. The district reported one case the week of Feb. 20-26, which was six fewer than the week before.
▪ Nooksack Valley School District has reported 341 cases in its schools since winter break, or approximately 171.9 cases per 1,000 students, according to The Herald’s analysis. The district reported eight cases the week of Feb. 20-26, which was seven fewer than the week before.
▪ Ferndale School District reported Thursday, March 4, that two students or staff had positive COVID-19 tests reported to the Whatcom County Health Department, which was down from seven reported one week earlier.
