Whatcom’s COVID infection rate drops below 100, but hospitalization rate slowly climbing

Though Whatcom County’s weekly COVID-19 infection rate officially dropped out of triple digits Monday and no new deaths were reported over the weekend, the state reported one number worthy of keeping an eye on.

Whatcom County’s weekly COVID-related hospitalization rate climbed to 8.3 patients per 100,000 residents for the most recently completed epidemiological data from Feb. 27 through March 5, the Washington State Department of Health COVID-19 Data Dashboard reported on Monday, March 14. That is nearly double the 4.8 rate from one week earlier (Feb. 20-26), and is inching closer to the 10 patients per 100,000 weekly benchmark the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention uses to determine whether Whatcom will remain in the “low” community level designation or rise to “medium” recommended guidelines.