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If the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took its COVID-19 community level rankings down to school district regions, one Whatcom County region would find itself in the “high” range where masking in public locations is recommended.

Based on the most recently location data released by the Whatcom County Health Department on Thursday, April 28, and U.S. Census data, The Bellingham Herald’s data analysis found the region covered by the Blaine School District had a weekly COVID-19 infection rate of 237 cases per 100,000 people between April 17 and April 23 and a COVID-related hospitalization rate of 11 new hospitalizations per 100,000 people. Both of those marks exceed the community level benchmarks set by the CDC of an infection rate of 200 and a hospitalization rate of 10, and that would push the region to the “high” level.

Whatcom’s six other regions all had COVID infection and hospitalization rates within the “low” community level, which is where the CDC had the county, as a whole, rated for a ninth straight week on Thursday, April 28.