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Whatcom County continued to post COVID-19 numbers at unprecedented rates, as the county saw its first quadruple-digit increase in confirmed cases and three more COVID-related deaths reported by the state Monday. Whatcom County had 1,134 new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported over the weekend by the Washington State Department of Health COVID-19 Data Dashboard on Monday, Jan. 10, upping its pandemic total to 21,889 cases. The three-day increase is the largest reported for Whatcom during the pandemic, eclipsing the 947 confirmed cases that were reported one week earlier for the four-day New Year’s holiday weekend.

Western Washington University on Monday announced that it will extend remote learning another two weeks, with in-person classes now expected to resume Jan. 24. Remote learning was originally only scheduled to last the first week of the winter quarter.

“Western is committed to a return to face-to-face learning as soon as possible, but we know that Omicron has a significantly higher transmission rate, and so we are taking this precaution to help reduce transmission and the stresses on our hospitals and other health resources,” a letter from �������� President Sabah Randhawa stated.