Covid-19 in Whatcom County, by school district boundaries: January 1

Covid-19 case rates continue to dramatically increase in all school district areas in Whatcom County since they first began to rise mid-December. 

There have been 112 new Covid-19 cases in the Blaine school district area and 1,346 new cases throughout Whatcom County in the past week, according to Whatcom County Health Department data. The increase in cases is mainly due to the Omicron variant which transmits much more easily than previous virus variants. It was first detected in Whatcom County December 10. 

The Ferndale school district area had the highest Covid-19 cases in the county, with 769 cases per 100,000 people. Blaine school district had the fourth highest case rate with 594 cases per 100,000. Bellingham school district had the lowest case rate at 509 cases per 100,000.

Whatcom County has had 21,510 confirmed and probable Covid-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, according to January 3 Washington State Department of Health data. The death toll in Whatcom County is now at 204 for Covid-19 deaths, which accounts for .9 percent of total cases. In the state, 9,909 people have died from the virus.

On January 4, 42 people at PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham had either been admitted for Covid-19 or tested positive for Covid-19 after being admitted for another reason.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 1,058 people have been hospitalized for Covid-19 in Whatcom County.

Covid-19 case rates continue to increase among all age groups. People 25-44 years old have the highest Covid-19 transmissions in the county, with 988 cases per 100,000 people, and people 18-24-years-old follow with 682 cases per 100,000.

Blaine has the second highest Covid-19 vaccination rates in the county, at 73 percent, which follows Bellingham, 80 percent, at the highest. Residents aged 25-49 years old have the highest vaccine rates among age groups in the county, with 90 percent of people having initiated the vaccine and 82 percent fully vaccinated.

For more Whatcom County information, visit whatcomcounty.us/coviddata.