CDC drops Whatcom’s COVID community level to ‘low,’ but one region’s numbers still ‘high’

With Whatcom’s case and hospitalization rates continuing to drop in recent weeks, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention set the county’s COVID-19 community level at “low.”

The CDC last week began releasing COVID-19 community levels on a county-by-county basis along with updated recommended guidelines for individuals and communities at each of three levels. Whatcom started at the “medium” level, but with an update on Thursday, March 3, the CDC says Whatcom’s community level is now “low,” meaning the guidelines currently being recommend by the CDC relaxed a little.

Statewide, 22 of Washington state’s 39 counties were in the “low” range, including Skagit, Snohomish and King counties. Another 13 were in the “medium” range, the CDC reported, but the remaining four, which included Pierce, Chelan, Grant and Douglas counties, had “high” community levels.

For Thursday’s report, the CDC used Feb. 24 to March 2 for analysis. According to incomplete data on the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard Wednesday, March 2, Whatcom County had an infection rate of 137 cases per 100,000 residents and a hospitalization rate of seven patients per 100,000 residents for that time period.