As Whatcom remembers 2-year anniversary of first COVID-related death, state reports 5 more
As the Whatcom County Health Department remembered the two-year anniversary of the first death of a resident linked to COVID-19, the state reported five new COVID-related deaths were on Friday, including the first linked to March.
As of Friday, March 18, the Washington State Department of Health COVID-19 Data Dashboard reported 287 residents’ deaths have been linked to COVID-19.
The five deaths were reported one day before the two-year anniversary of Whatcom’s first COVID-related death, which was epidemiologically linked to March 19, 2020.
“For those who have lost loved ones, please remember that grief is not a linear or predictable process,” the Whatcom County Health Department said in its weekly COVID-19 update. “There is no right or wrong way to grieve, and there is no timeline. It’s common to have a mix of feelings. This is especially true during this pandemic, when many people have been unable to be with their loved ones in the hospital or long-term care facility, and when memorial services and other gatherings have been delayed or modified.”
Among the five deaths reported Friday was one of a resident who first tested positive for COVID-19 on March 19, The Herald’s analysis of state epidemiological data showed, making it the first death linked to March. Another first tested positive on Feb. 9, while the other three were epidemiologically linked to mid January.
Whatcom has now had a pandemic-high 46 deaths epidemiologically linked to January, while there were 13 linked to February.
With 15,529 total cases (confirmed and probable combined) in the county since so far this year 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 0.8% of cases.
No other information about the people whose deaths were reported Friday, such as their age, gender, vaccination status or hometown, was reported.
Through data reported by the Whatcom County Health Department Thursday, March 17, 87% of the first 281 COVID-related deaths in the county were in residents 60 and older, including 133 deaths in residents 80 and older. The data also shows Whatcom has had one death of a person between 10 and 19, six deaths of people in their 30s and 15 in their 40s.
The county health department has not updated vaccine breakthrough death totals in recent 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 continued to see case numbers drop to pre-Delta surge levels last week, as 174 total cases (confirmed and probable) were reported last week. Though the county had smaller weekly counts of 22 and 69 cases in late February when the state dashboard was scrubbing and adjusting data following the height of the Omicron surge, Whatcom has a not otherwise seen a smaller increase since the final week of July, when 166 total cases were reported.
St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham, meanwhile, reported it was treating six patients for COVID-related symptoms on Monday, March 21, which was up from counts of three (Friday), four (Saturday) and five (Sunday). Over the past seven days, the hospital’s daily snapshot has shown an average of 4.4 COVID-related patients per day, which represents 1.6% of the hospital’s 252 inpatient beds.
The latest report on the state dashboard, which is updated on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings, shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 32,426 confirmed cases during the pandemic — up 59 from the last report. Whatcom saw a total of 148 new confirmed cases reported last week, which was down from the 182 reported the week before.
▪ 4,495 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 26 new probable cases reported last week, which was down from the 27 reported the week before.
▪ A weekly infection rate of 67 cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data March 3-9 — down from 107 one week earlier (Feb. 24 to March 2) and the lowest rate since the county was at 63 cases per 100,000 residents July 20-26.
▪ 1,496 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic — up 15 from the last report. Whatcom saw 28 new hospitalizations reported last week, which was down from 39 the week before.
▪ A weekly COVID-related hospitalization rate of 4.8 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological hospitalization data March 3-9 — down from 7.0 from a week earlier (Feb. 24 to March 2).
▪ 369,947 vaccinations administered during the pandemic — up 108 from the last report. A total of 833 administered doses were reported in Whatcom County last week, down from 863 the week before. The state reports 74.6% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 68.2% has completed it.
▪ 86,671 booster vaccine doses administered and 60.8% of Whatcom’s residents to receive a booster dose have done so.
Whatcom schools COVID update
COVID infection rates in Whatcom County schools continued to drop during the second week of March, The Herald’s analysis of Whatcom County school districts showed.
Though the Blaine School District has not released data since Feb. 13, the other six school districts reported a total of 25 new COVID-19 cases for the week of March 6-12, or approximately 1.3 cases per 1,000 students in those districts. That was down from a rate of 1.5 cases per 1,000 students from a week earlier (Feb. 20-26), The Herald found.
Since returning from winter break, the seven districts have reported a total of 3,187 cases, or approximately 145.4 per 1,000 students.
Except for Ferndale, which does not report case counts from individual schools, Whatcom County elementary schools have seen average weekly infection rates of approximately 11.7 cases per 1,000 students in elementary schools, 12.1 cases per 1,000 students in middle schools and 11.9 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 925 total COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break, or approximately 76.7 cases per 1,000 students, according to The Herald’s analysis. The district reported 13 cases the week of March 6-12, which was four 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 395 total COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break, or approximately 109.0 cases per 1,000 students, according to The Herald’s analysis. The district reported one case the week of March 6-12, which was one fewer than the week before.
▪ Meridian School District has reported 354 COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break, or approximately 193.9 cases per 1,000 students, according to The Herald’s analysis. The district reported two cases the week of March 6-12, which was three fewer than the week before.
▪ Mount Baker School District has reported 294 COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break, or approximately 158.2 cases per 1,000 students, according to The Herald’s analysis. The district reported one case the week of March 6-12, which was unchanged from the week before.
▪ Nooksack Valley School District has reported 345 cases in its schools since winter break, or approximately 173.9 cases per 1,000 students, according to The Herald’s analysis. The district reported one case the week of March 6-12, which was two fewer than the week before.
▪ Ferndale School District reported Monday, March 21, the six students or staff had positive COVID-19 tests reported to the Whatcom County Health Department, which was up from three reported March 14.
