Whatcom health department still analyzing cause of recent increased COVID rate in county

The Whatcom County Health Department is taking a wait-and-see approach to determine if the recent increase of COVID-19 cases in the county is attributable to a post-Thanksgiving surge or a backlog of testing due to flooding earlier in the month. Though epidemiological data remains incomplete beyond Nov. 30 and is likely to change as more information becomes available, the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard’s epidemiological curves show Whatcom County averaged 62.0 new confirmed cases per day during the week after Thanksgiving (Nov. 28-Dec. 4), The Bellingham Herald’s data analysis found. That included more than 75 confirmed cases per day from Nov. 29 through Dec. 1. That is a 51% increase from the week of Thanksgiving (Nov. 21-27), when Whatcom averaged 41.1 new confirmed cases per day.