Covid-19 in Whatcom County, by school district boundaries: March 20

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As of March 20, Whatcom County has had a total of 7,094 confirmed cases of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic and 198 probable cases (7,292 total cases), according to Washington State Department of Health (DOH) data. There has been one death in the past week, making the number of deaths 86; the percent of deaths per total confirmed cases is 1.2 percent.

Every school district’s case rates dropped for a second week in a row. Lynden school district had the highest rate of new cases in the past two weeks, with 301 confirmed cases per 100,000 people followed by Nooksack (190), Ferndale (188), Meridian (111), Blaine (80), Bellingham (76) and Mount Baker (51).

The county health department reported case rates are higher than similar-sized counties and Whatcom County has the second highest number of U.K. Covid-19 variant cases at 25, trailing behind King County with 93 cases of the variant. Neither the South African nor the Brazilian variant have been detected in the county.

The county should receive vaccine shipments of 3,470 doses from DOH, according to preliminary data from the county health department.

About 13 percent of county residents are fully vaccinated and 25 percent have received at least one shot of Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson and Johnson, according to the department. The Johnson and Johnson vaccine only requires one shot to be fully effective. The department reports that 29,298 county residents are fully vaccinated and 56,526 have received their first shot.

Whatcom County is ranked 25 out of the 39 counties in the state for having the most number of people vaccinated per 100,000, according to DOH data. Whatcom County’s number is 13,003 per 100,000; Jefferson County is the most vaccinated per 100,000 with 26,470; and Stevens County is the least with 7,568.

Statewide, 2,824,937 vaccine doses have been administered. About 13.8 percent of people in Washington are fully vaccinated and 24.1 percent have received one dose.

In the past seven days, the state has averaged administering 46,103 vaccines daily, surpassing its goal to vaccinate 45,000 people daily.

County health department officials said 15,000 people over the age of 65 still need to be vaccinated.

Washington state has had 334,841 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic and 21,695 probable cases (probable cases come from an antigen test). In all, 5,186 people in Washington with the virus have died as of March 22 and 20,195 have been hospitalized.

The health department will hold its third appointment-only Covid-19 vaccination clinic on Saturday, March 27. 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.

On Wednesday, March 31, people working in restaurants, food service, manufacturing and construction will be eligible for the vaccine, as well as people 60 and over and anyone with two or more comorbidities. Governor Jay Inslee announced the updated vaccine eligibility March 18.

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.

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