Whatcom’s COVID cases rising again, but death count stays put for first time since August
Though COVID-19 case rates continued their late April climb, Whatcom County’s COVID-related death total remained unchanged last week for the first time since early August.
Whatcom County has had 298 COVID-related deaths during the pandemic, according to the latest update Friday, April 29, on the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard — unchanged from a week earlier.
The last time Whatcom saw its death total stay put for week was the week of Aug. 8-14, which was actually the second of two straight weeks when that number didn’t change.
The county actually did have a new death reported last week, as the state dashboard added a new death epidemiologically linked to Jan. 10 in Wednesday’s update, but Friday’s report scratched one that had previously been reported on April 5.
Meanwhile, St. Joseph’s hospital in Bellingham reported its daily COVID-related patient snapshot reached double figures for the first time in nearly a month on Sunday, May 1, with 10 patients, but that went down by four as of Monday, May 2.
Over the past week (April 26 to May 2), the hospital’s daily snapshot averaged 6.3 COVID-related patients, which represents 2.5% of its 252 total inpatient beds. That average is up from 5.6 patients per day a week earlier (April 19-25).
Overall, Whatcom County had 501 total new cases (confirmed and probable combined) reported by the state last week — its largest increase since it had 1,502 reported Feb. 6-12.
The latest report on the state dashboard, which is updated on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings, also shows Whatcom County has:
▪ 33,679 confirmed cases during the pandemic — up 405 cases from last week. Whatcom had 179 confirmed cases reported the week before. The 405 new cases last week were the most reported in a week since the county had 1,217 the week of Feb. 6-12.
▪ 4,699 additional probable COVID cases during the pandemic — up 96 cases from last week — resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test. Whatcom had 40 probable cases reported the week before. The 96 new cases last week were the most reported in a week since the county had 285 the week of Feb. 6-12.
▪ A weekly infection rate of 127 cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data April 14-20 — up from 96 one week earlier (April 7-13). Whatcom’s case rate is the highest it’s been since it stood at 130 cases per 100,000 residents Feb. 20-26.
▪ 1,546 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic — up seven from last week. Whatcom had eight COVID-related hospitalizations reported the week before.
▪ A weekly COVID-related hospitalization rate of 3.5 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological hospitalization data April 14-20 — up from 1.8 from a week earlier (April 7-13).
▪ 3,480 tests (molecular and antigen combined) completed during the most recently completed epidemiological data April 13-19, with 7.8% of the tests returning a positive result. A week earlier (April 6-12) the state reported 3,255 tests completed and 7.0% returning positive results. The state’s data does not include at-home rapid tests that were not reported. No new data was released last week due to “technical issues,” according to the state dashboard.
▪ 1,097 confirmed omicron variant cases and 2,095 confirmed delta variant cases, according to the weekly SARS-CoV-2 Sequencing and Variants in Washington State released Wednesday, April 27. That was an increase of 151 omicron cases and no delta cases since last week’s report, though, with just 22.3% of all confirmed COVID cases in the state sequenced during the month of March, those numbers are likely much higher.
▪ 383,378 vaccinations administered during the pandemic — an increase of 2,141 from last week. Whatcom had 3,065 administered vaccine doses reported the week before. The state reports 75.1% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 68.8% has completed it.
▪ 89,430 booster vaccine doses administered, meaning 61.5% of Whatcom’s residents eligible to receive a booster dose have done so.
Whatcom schools COVID report
COVID-19 case rates in Whatcom County schools increased by nearly 250% the week of April 17-23.
Though the Mount Baker School District has not yet updated its COVID-19 dashboard with data since April 1, the six other school districts in the county reported a total 222 COVID cases between April 17 and April 23. Based on student enrollment, that works out to approximately 11.1 cases per 1,000 students for those six districts, The Bellingham Herald’s analysis found.
That’s the highest rate county schools have seen since they averaged 12.5 cases per 1,000 students the week of Feb. 6-12.
There have been 130 cases reported so far last week (April 24-30), with just the Bellingham, Ferndale and Meridian school districts reporting, which works out to a rate of 10.7 cases per 1,000 students in those three districts.
Since returning from winter break, the seven districts have reported a total of 3,789 cases, or a weekly rate of approximately 11.5 cases per 1,000 students.
The COVID-19 dashboards on Whatcom County school district websites showed:
▪ Bellingham Public Schools has reported 1,211 total COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break, or a weekly rate of 13.8 cases per 1,000 students, according to The Herald’s analysis. The district reported 132 cases the week of April 17-23, which was up 102 from the week before.
▪ Blaine School District has reported 626 total COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break, or a weekly rate of 18.0 cases per 1,000 students, according to The Herald’s analysis. The district reported 45 cases the week of April 17-23, which was up 18 from the week before.
▪ Lynden School District has reported 423 total COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break, or a weekly rate of 8.3 cases per 1,000 students, according to The Herald’s analysis. The district reported 16 cases the week of April 17-23, which was up 10 from the week before.
▪ Meridian School District has reported 368 COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break, or a weekly rate of 12.6 cases per 1,000 students, according to The Herald’s analysis. The district reported one case the week of April 17-23, which was down two from the week before.
▪ Mount Baker School District has reported 298 COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break, or a weekly rate of 12.3 cases per 1,000 students, according to The Herald’s analysis. The district has not reported any new cases since April 1.
▪ Nooksack Valley School District has reported 353 cases in its schools since winter break, or a weekly rate of 11.9 cases per 1,000 students, according to The Herald’s analysis. The district reported four cases the week of April 17-23, which was up four from the week before.
▪ Ferndale School District reported Monday May 2, that 38 students or staff had positive COVID-19 tests reported to the Whatcom County Health Department, which was up from the 17 it reported on April 25.
Hospital tightens visitor restrictions
Due to the increased COVID transmission in Whatcom County, St. Joseph’s hospital said it would once again be limiting visitors.
Beginning Tuesday, May 3, each patient is allowed only one visitor or support person per 24 hours, and the no-visitor policy remains in place for COVID patients, according to a PeaceHealth news release.
Visitors are still required to wear a surgical mask inside the hospital and PeaceHealth clinics, according to the release. KN95 or N95 are also allowed.
This story was originally published May 2, 2022 at 11:50 AM.
