Whatcom may be seeing post-Thanksgiving COVID increase, as state reports 84 new cases

Whatcom County may be beginning to see the effects of the Thanksgiving holiday on its COVID-19 case counts, as the state reported 84 new confirmed cases in the county on Tuesday, Nov. 7.

Whatcom County now has had 17,297 confirmed COVID cases in the pandemic, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard.

Though epidemiological data remains incomplete beyond Nov. 29 and is likely to change as more information becomes available, the state’s epidemiological curves show Whatcom County averaged 59.9 new confirmed cases per day during the week after Thanksgiving (Nov. 28 to Dec. 4), The Bellingham Herald’s data analysis found. That included more than 75 confirmed cases per day from Nov. 29 through Dec. 1.

That is a 46% increase from the week of Thanksgiving (Nov. 21-27), when Whatcom averaged 41.1 new confirmed cases per day.

That increase is nearly three times the 16% increase Whatcom County saw in 2020, when the county averaged 32.8 new confirmed cases the week of Thanksgiving (Nov. 22-28) and 38.1 new confirmed cases the week after Thanksgiving (Nov. 29-Dec. 5).

The Herald has asked the Whatcom County Health Department if it believes the county is beginning to see a post-holiday increase.

More Whatcom COVID data

Tuesday’s report on the state dashboard also shows Whatcom County has:

▪ 1,486 probable COVID cases during the pandemic — up two from the last report — resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.

▪ A weekly infection rate of 141 cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data Nov. 22-28 — down from 162 one week earlier (Nov. 15-21). But those rates should top 200 cases per 100,000 by the end of the week when the state data is complete, the state data shows.

▪ 968 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic — up nine from the last report. St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 28 patients with COVID-related symptoms on Wednesday, Dec. 8 — unchanged from its last report.

▪ A weekly COVID-related hospitalization rate of 9.2 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological hospitalization data from Nov. 22-28 — down from 10.5 from a week earlier (Nov. 15-21).

▪ 179 COVID-related deaths during the pandemic — unchanged from the last report.

▪ 348,103 total tests (molecular and antigen combined). The state reported that an “unexpected delay” has once again delayed the resumption of its reporting of testing data until approximately Dec. 30.

▪ 307,761 vaccinations administered during the pandemic. The state reports 68.3% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 63.0% has completed it. The state also reports Whatcom has administered 38,121 additional doses, which includes third doses for immunocompromised residents and booster doses.

Additionally, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Data Tracker Wednesday, listed Whatcom’s level of transmission as “High” — the highest of four categories. Thirty-four of the 39 counties in Washington state were listed in the “High” transmission category.

Whatcom long-term care update

Whatcom County had 45 new COVID-19 cases associated with its long-term care facilities reported in the past two weeks and one new COVID-related death, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s latest COVID-19 Long-Term Care Report.

According to the report, which was released Wednesday and reflected data through Monday, Dec. 6, Whatcom County long-term care facilities have had 636 confirmed cases during the pandemic. The number of COVID-related deaths related to Whatcom’s long-term care facilities increased to 68, according to the state’s data.

The 636 cases mean that long-term care facilities had 4% of the total cases reported in Whatcom County as of Dec. 6, while the 68 related deaths represented 38% of the county’s death total.

Statewide, long-term care facilities have been associated with 26,773 cases (3% of the state’s total cases) and 3,185 related deaths (34% of the state’s death total).

Whatcom schools COVID update

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

▪ Bellingham Public Schools has reported 161 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, including five new cases with a possible exposure window of Nov. 29-Dec. 3 listed Tuesday: one case at Roosevelt Elementary, one case at Shuksan Middle School, one additional case at Silver Beach Elementary, one case at Squalicum High and one case at Whatcom Middle School. Silver Beach Elementary had one previous case reported with the same exposure window. Close contacts from all cases have been notified, according to the district.

▪ Blaine School District has reported 187 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, including 34 new cases reported Tuesday, including 10 cases Nov. 15-21 (one at Blaine Primary, one at Blaine Elementary, three at Blaine Middle School and five at Blaine High); 10 cases Nov. 22-28 (one at Blaine Primary, three at Blaine Elementary, five at Blaine High and one among district staff); and 14 cases Nov. 29-Dec. 5 (four at Blaine Primary, three at Blaine Elementary, five at Blaine High and two among district staff).

▪ Lynden School District has reported 261 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Tuesday.

▪ Meridian School District has reported 75 COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Tuesday

▪ Mount Baker School District has reported 43 COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Tuesday.

▪ Nooksack Valley School District has reported 21 COVID-19 cases in its schools Oct. 31-Nov. 6. The district had no new cases reported the rest of November, due to its schools being closed as the community recovered from recent flooding.

▪ Ferndale School District reported Tuesday that 17 students or staff have had a positive test reported to the Whatcom County Health Department in the past seven days — unchanged from the last report. Eleven of those people were on a school campus during their infectious period.

Western Washington University reported that it had 13 students and one employee test positive for COVID-19 Nov. 29-Dec. 5, as its totals for the school year increased to 142 students and 12 employees. The school reports that 1.8% of tests given Nov. 29-Dec. 5 returned positive results (10 of 561 tests), which is higher than the 1.5% for the school year (122 of 8,252 tests). The school also reports that 95.4% of students and 97.3% of employees are fully vaccinated.