Covid-19 in Whatcom County, by school district boundaries: March 16

As of March 14, Whatcom County has had a total of 6,995 confirmed cases of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic and 176 probable cases (7,171 total cases), according to Washington State Department of Health (DOH) data. There have been two deaths in the past week, making the number of deaths 85; the percent of deaths per total confirmed cases is 1.2 percent.

Every school district dropped in cases. Lynden school district had the highest rate of new cases in the past two weeks, with 341 confirmed cases per 100,000 people followed by Nooksack (244), Ferndale (194), Meridian (139), Mount Baker (95), Blaine (85), and Bellingham (78).

The county should receive vaccine shipments of 5,710 first doses and 5,180 second doses.

About 10.5 percent of county residents are fully vaccinated and 21.4 percent have received at least one shot of Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson and Johnson, according to the department. However, the Johnson and Johnson vaccine only requires one shot to be fully effective. The department reports that 48,311 county residents have received their first shot while 23,629 are fully vaccinated.

Statewide, 2,442,206 vaccine doses have been administered. About 11.9 percent of people in Washington are fully vaccinated and 20.7 percent have received one dose.

In the past seven days, the state has averaged administering 42,551 vaccines daily, nearly reaching its goal to vaccinate 45,000 people daily.

Washington state has had 329,893 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic and 20,613 probable cases (probable cases come from an antigen test). In all, 5,135 people in Washington with the virus have died as of March 14 and 19,891 have been hospitalized.

The health department will hold its second appointment-only Covid-19 vaccination clinic on Saturday, March 20, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nearly 400 people were vaccinated during last week’s vaccine clinic, the health department reported. People can make an appointment at prepmod.doh.wa.gov but people who don’t have internet access or who need translation can call 360/778-6075.

People in Phase 1b Tier 2 – essential workers in congregate workplaces, people who have a disability that qualifies them as high risk for being severely sick from the virus and women who are pregnant – were eligible for the vaccine starting March 17.

The county health department will host a vaccine town hall to update residents on vaccine efforts at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 18, on Whatcom County’s YouTube channel, WhatcomCountyGov, at bit.ly/3tanRij.

For more Whatcom County information, visit whatcomcounty.us/covidvaccine and whatcomcounty.us/coviddata. State information is available at bit.ly/3r2URJj. Vaccine locations can be found at bit.ly/3nZiMqr. For CDC data, visit bit.ly/39Kt4qh.