Whatcom sees 215 COVID cases and a death over holiday weekend, passes 300K vaccine doses

Whatcom County saw 215 new COVID-19 cases and a death reported over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, but the county also surpassed 300,000 vaccination doses administered.

The death was the 175th related to COVID-19 during the pandemic, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard on Monday, Nov. 29.

The death reported Wednesday, Nov. 24, was for a person who first tested positive for COVID-19 on Nov. 6, according to The Bellingham Herald’s analysis of the state’s epidemiological data, making it the third death epidemiologically linked to the month of November. There have now been 63 deaths in the county since Aug. 1.

With 7,836 total cases (confirmed and probable combined) in the county since Aug. 1, Whatcom has seen 0.8% of cases during that time frame result in death, The Herald’s analysis showed. That is still better than the county’s pandemic death average of 1.0%, according to the state’s data, and the statewide 1.2% rate.

No other information about the person who died, such as their age, gender, vaccination status or hometown, was reported.

The Herald’s analysis of age-range data reported by the state on Monday shows that 75% of Whatcom’s 63 deaths since Aug. 1 were in people 65 and older. An additional eight deaths (13%) were in people 50-64, while six (10%) were in people between 35 and 49.

For the entire pandemic before the death reported Wednesday, 82% of Whatcom’s 175 deaths were in people 65 and older, according to analysis of the state data, which also showed that residents 65 and older accounted for 11% of all Whatcom cases through last week. No COVID-related deaths have been reported in any Whatcom residents younger than 30 during the pandemic, according to data released by the Whatcom County Health Department.

There were 52 COVID-related deaths in unvaccinated or partially vaccinated Whatcom County residents between Feb. 1 and Nov. 13, including 25 since Aug. 22, according to The Herald’s analysis of the latest data released Friday, Nov. 19, by the Whatcom County Health Department. For comparison, there were 21 deaths of fully vaccinated residents between Feb. 1 and Nov. 13, including 16 since Aug. 22.

Pediatric vaccine update

PeaceHealth reported Monday that it has had to stop scheduling appointments for pediatric vaccine doses for children between 5 and 11 years old for the rest of this week.

“PeaceHealth did not receive its anticipated order of pediatric doses on Friday, Nov. 26, and has not yet received a new delivery date,” PeaceHealth spokesperson Bev Mayhew told The Bellingham Herald in an email.

St. Joseph’s hospital in Bellingham reported it was treating 30 COVID-related patients on Tuesday, which was up one from Monday but down from the 33 it reported on Sunday.

More Whatcom COVID data

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

▪ 16,811 confirmed cases during the pandemic — up 215 cases from the last report on Wednesday.

▪ 1,438 probable COVID cases during the pandemic — up six from the last report — resulting from positive antigen tests not confirmed by a molecular test.

▪ A weekly infection rate of 163 cases per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data Nov. 14-20 — down from 199 one week earlier (Nov. 7-13).

▪ 925 COVID-related hospitalizations during the pandemic — up six from the last report.

▪ A weekly COVID-related hospitalization rate of 9.7 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological hospitalization data from Nov. 14-20 — down from 10.5 from a week earlier (Nov. 7-13).

▪ 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.

▪ 300,648 vaccinations administered during the pandemic — up 3,182 from the last report. The state reports 68.0% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 62.8% has completed it. The state also reports Whatcom has administered 33,264 additional doses, which includes third doses for immunocompromised residents and booster doses.

Additionally, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Data Tracker Tuesday, Nov. 30, listed Whatcom’s level of transmission as “High” — the highest of four categories. Twenty-five of the 39 counties in Washington state were listed in the “High” transmission category.

Whatcom schools COVID update

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

▪ Bellingham Public Schools has reported 149 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, including three new cases listed Monday with a possible exposure window of Nov. 22-26: two cases at Columbia Elementary and one case at Squalicum High. Close contacts from all cases have been notified, according to the district.

▪ Blaine School District has reported 153 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Monday.

▪ Lynden School District has reported 252 total COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Monday.

▪ Meridian School District has reported 62 COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year, including five new cases listed Monday: one case reported at Meridian High Nov. 23; three cases at Meridian Middle School reported Nov. 24, 25 and 28; and one case reported at Irene Reither Elementary Nov. 27.

▪ Mount Baker School District has reported 35 COVID-19 cases in its schools this school year. It listed no new cases Monday.

▪ Nooksack Valley School District has reported 21 COVID-19 cases in its schools since Oct. 31. It listed no new cases Monday.

▪ Ferndale School District did not update its dashboard Monday. It last reported Wednesday that 11 students or staff have had a positive test reported to the Whatcom County Health Department in the past seven days — down one from the last report. Six of those people were on a school campus during their infectious period.

Western Washington University reported that it had eight students and one employee test positive for COVID-19 Nov. 22-28, as its totals for the school year increased to 129 students and 11 employees. The school reports that 1.0% of tests given Nov. 22 and 28 returned positive results (six of 591 tests), which is lower than the 1.5% for the school year (112 of 7,791 tests). The school also reports that 95.4% of students and 97.2% of employees are fully vaccinated.