Whatcom’s COVID case, hospitalization rates drop to early delta levels, but adds 3 deaths
Whatcom County’s weekly COVID-19 infection and hospitalization rates dropped to their lowest marks since the first days of the delta surge, but the county also received a reminder of the serious implications the pandemic continues to create on Monday.
Three more Whatcom County residents’ deaths have been linked to COVID-19, according to the Washington State Department of Health COVID-19 Data Dashboard Monday, March 7, bringing the county’s pandemic total to 274.
The deaths reported Monday were for people who first tested positive for COVID on Feb. 5 (two people) and Feb. 20, The Bellingham Herald’s analysis of state epidemiological data showed. So far, Whatcom County has had 10 COVID-related deaths epidemiologically linked to February after it had a pandemic-high 37 deaths linked to January.
Since Dec. 19, which is approximately when Whatcom County began to see the omicron surge, there have been 59 epidemiological deaths, The Herald found.
With 14,253 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 people whose deaths were reported Monday, 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 County had 65 new total (confirmed and probable combined) COVID cases reported by the state on Monday, though the dashboard said case numbers from Sunday, March 6, were not included in the report due to an interruption in data processing.
Whatcom’s weekly COVID infection rate dropped to 125 new cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data from Feb. 20 to Feb. 26. That was down from a rate of 201 from a week earlier (Feb. 13-19) and the lowest rate the county has seen since it posted a rate of 123 July 30 to Aug. 5. In the 204 days since, Whatcom’s average weekly rate has been 388 cases per 100,000 residents.
Whatcom weekly COVID-related rate also dropped to 4.8 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data from Feb. 20 to Feb. 26. That was down from a rate of 11.8 from a week earlier (Feb. 13-19) and the lowest rate the county has seen since it matched that 4.8 rate July 29 to Aug. 4. In the 205 days since, Whatcom average weekly rate has been 13.5 patients per 100,000 residents.
Additionally, St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating six patients for COVID-related symptoms on Tuesday, March 8. That was down five patients from Monday’s report and marked the first time the hospital had a daily snapshot in single digits since it reported eight patients on Aug. 4.
It was in early August when Whatcom began to see case and hospitalization rates begin to climb due to the impact of delta variant.
The latest report on the state dashboard, which is updated on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings, shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 32,161 confirmed cases during the pandemic — up 65 from the last report.
▪ 4,447 additional probable COVID cases during the pandemic — up five 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.
▪ 1,452 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic — up 13 from the last report.
▪ 368,755 vaccinations administered during the pandemic — up 504 from the last report. The state reports 74.5% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 68.0% has completed it.
▪ 85,948 booster vaccine doses administered and 60.8% of Whatcom’s residents to receive a booster dose have done so.
