Whatcom County sees 905 new COVID cases, along with 40 hospitalizations and 3 deaths

Whatcom County saw 905 new COVID-19 cases along with 40 hospitalizations and three deaths related to COVID added to its pandemic totals by the state on Friday, Jan. 28.

The three deaths reported Friday on the Washington State Department of Health COVID-19 Data Dashboard brought the county’s pandemic total to 233, including 32 reported since Jan. 1.

Two of the deaths reported Friday were for people who first tested positive for COVID in January (Jan. 7 and Jan. 9), while the third was for a person who first tested positive on Aug. 5, The Herald’s analysis of the state’s epidemiological data showed. Whatcom has now had 14 deaths epidemiologically linked to January.

Since Aug. 1, the beginning of the delta surge, there have been 120 epidemiological deaths, The Herald found, which is 52% of the county’s pandemic total. The county has seen 22 epidemiological deaths since Dec. 19, which was approximately when Whatcom began to see case counts climb steeply as the omicron variant took hold.

With 21,899 total cases (confirmed and probable combined) in the county since Aug. 1, Whatcom has seen 0.5% 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%.

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, Jan. 27, 87% of the first 230 COVID-related deaths in the county were in residents 60 and older, including 111 deaths in residents 80 and older. Though the county has not seen any deaths of people younger than 30, the data shows, the deaths of five residents in their 30s and 13 residents in their 40s have been linked to COVID-19.

As of the Whatcom County Health Department’s latest COVID-19 Data Report released Jan. 21, 64% of Whatcom County’s 80 COVID-related deaths since Aug. 22, were in unvaccinated or partially vaccinated residents, The Herald’s analysis shows, including 68% of the 28 deaths since Dec. 19.

Other Whatcom numbers

The latest report on the state dashboard, which is now only updated on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings, also shows Whatcom County has:

▪ 28,554 confirmed cases during the pandemic — up 717 from the last report.

▪ 3,759 additional probable COVID cases during the pandemic — up 188 from the last report — resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.

▪ A weekly infection rate of 1,589 cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data Jan. 9-15 — up from 1,429 one week earlier (Jan. 2-8).

▪ With 10,928 total cases epidemiologically linked to January, one in 21 Whatcom County residents has tested positive for COVID during the first 27 days of 2022. The total number of cases is likely higher, as the Whatcom County Health Department has said most at-home test results are not reported.

▪ 1,263 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic — up 40 from the last report.

▪ St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 58 patients with COVID-related symptoms on Friday, which was down three from its last report.

▪ A weekly COVID-related hospitalization rate of 24.1 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological hospitalization data from Jan. 9-15 — up from 23.3 from a week earlier (Jan. 2-8).

▪ 1.5% of the 3,622 total COVID cases in the county Jan. 9-15 resulted in hospitalization, The Herald’s analysis of state epidemiological data found, which was down from 1.6% of the 3,259 total cases a week earlier (Jan. 2-8).

▪ 348,103 total tests (molecular and antigen combined). The state reported that an “unexpected delay” has once again pushed back the resumption of its reporting of testing data until approximately Feb. 28.

▪ 355,924 vaccinations administered during the pandemic — up 1,1318 from the last report. The state reports 73.3% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 66.7% has completed it. The state also reports Whatcom has administered 76,715 “additional doses,” which includes third doses for immunocompromised residents and booster doses, have been administered.

Additionally, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Data Tracker Friday listed Whatcom’s level of transmission as “High” — the highest of four categories. All of the 39 counties in Washington state and all but five counties nationwide also were listed in the “High” transmission category.

Whatcom schools COVID update

All Blaine School District schools will return to in-person learning on Monday, Jan. 31, the district announced in a Facebook post Friday. High case numbers throughout the district forced it to return to remote learning from Jan. 25 to Jan. 28.

The COVID-19 dashboards on Whatcom County school district websites showed:

▪ Bellingham Public Schools has reported 608 COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break, including 75 new cases listed Thursday and Friday. Twenty-seven of the new cases had a possible exposure window of Jan. 18-21: one new case at Alderwood Elementary (five total cases with the same exposure window), four new cases at Geneva Elementary (six total cases), two new cases at Kulshan Middle School (13 total cases), one new case at Northern Heights Elementary (10 total cases), one new case at Parkview Elementary (four total cases), eight cases at Roosevelt Elementary, four new cases at Shuksan Elementary (six total cases), four new cases at Sunnyland Elementary (seven total cases) and two new cases at Whatcom Middle School (20 total cases). The other 48 cases had a possible exposure window of Jan. 24-28: three cases at Alderwood Elementary, three new cases at Bellingham High (five total cases), one new case at Carl Cozier Elementary (two total cases), two cases at Cordata Elementary, three cases at Geneva Elementary, three new cases at Happy Valley Elementary (six total cases), one case at Kulshan Middle School, one new case at Northern Heights Elementary (two total cases), two cases as Parkview Elementary, one new case at Roosevelt Elementary (three total cases), one new case at Sehome High (two total cases), four cases at Silver Beach Elementary, seven new cases at Squalicum High (11 total cases), one case at Sunnyland Elementary, one case at Wade King Elementary and 14 cases at Whatcom Middle School.

▪ Blaine School District reported 327 total COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break and listed no new cases since Jan. 23.

▪ Lynden School District reported 206 total COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break and listed no new cases since Jan. 21.

▪ Meridian School District reported 196 COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break and listed no new cases since Jan. 21.

▪ Mount Baker School District reported 151 COVID-19 cases in its schools since winter break, including 140 new cases Thursday and Friday. Six cases had a possible exposure window of Jan. 3-9: one new case at Acme Elementary (two total cases with the same exposure window), one new case at Harmony Elementary (three total cases), two new cases at Kendall Elementary (four total cases) and two new cases at Mount Baker High (six total cases). Sixty-two cases had a possible exposure window of Jan. 8-14: 10 cases at Acme Elementary, 14 cases at Harmony Elementary, nine cases at Kendall Elementary, eight cases at Mount Baker Junior High, 15 cases at Mount Baker High, two cases at the preschool and four cases among district staff. The remaining 72 cases had a possible exposure window of Jan. 15-21: 9 cases at Acme Elementary, 16 cases at Harmony Elementary, 17 cases at Kendall Elementary, 15 cases at Mount Baker Junior High, 11 cases at Mount Baker High, one case at the preschool and three cases among district staff.

▪ Nooksack Valley School District reported 168 COVID-19 cases since returning from winter break, including 89 new cases with a possible exposure window of Jan. 16-22: 38 cases at Nooksack Valley High, 18 cases at Nooksack Valley Middle School, 16 cases at Nooksack Elementary, 11 cases at Everson Elementary and six cases at Sumas Elementary.

▪ Ferndale School District reported that as of Friday, 109 students or staff had a positive test reported to the Whatcom County Health Department in the past seven days — down 14 from the last report. Fifty-two of those people were on a school campus during their infectious period.