Whatcom County’s weekly reported new COVID cases tick up, as state reports 2 new deaths
The number of new COVID-19 cases reported in Whatcom County ticked up slightly for a second straight week, and the county had two more deaths linked to COVID.
Whatcom County now has had a total of 43,552 COVID cases reported during the pandemic, according to the Friday, July 8, report on the Washington State Department of Health COVID-19 Data Dashboard, including 38,154 confirmed cases and 5,398 probable cases, resulting from a positive antigen test not confirmed by a molecular test.
The county’s 483 new reported cases last week were up from the 466 reported by the state a week earlier, which was up from 435 cases reported the week of June 19-25.
Whatcom’s weekly COVID-19 reported case rate increased to 204 new cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data from June 23 to June 29, up from a rate of 191 from one week earlier (June 16-22).
St. Joseph’s hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating seven COVID-related patients on Monday, July 11. Over the past week, the hospital’s daily snapshot has averaged 12.7 COVID-related patients per day, which is down from 14.6 one week earlier (June 28 to July 3) and represents 5.0% of the hospital’s 252 inpatient beds.
Here is what data on the state dashboard showed for Whatcom County through Friday:
▪ 1,734 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic, including 22 hospitalizations reported last week, which was down from 23 the week before. Whatcom has a weekly COVID-related hospitalization rate of 9.2 new patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data from June 23-29, which was up from 7.9 one week earlier (June 16-22). Approximately 4.0% of all reported COVID cases in Whatcom County during the pandemic have resulted in hospitalization.
▪ 309 COVID-related deaths during the pandemic, which was an increase of two from what was reported a week earlier. Approximately 0.7% of all COVID cases in Whatcom County during the pandemic have resulted in death.
▪ 17.0% of the 2,776 COVID tests in Whatcom County reported to the state between June 22 and June 28 returned a positive result. That percentage was up from the 15.5% of the 2,940 test results reported a week earlier (June 15-21).
▪ 401,515 COVID vaccinations have been administered within the county — an increase of 990 doses last week — with 69.5% of all Whatcom County residents (158,423 people) completing an initial vaccination series. Of those eligible to receive a booster, 60.3% (93,152 people) have done so.
