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Whatcom County’s youngest residents have a COVID-19 infection rate 42% higher than the rest of the population since students returned to school, which has played a role in keeping the county’s caseload high. Between Sept. 5 and Oct. 16, 826 COVID cases were diagnosed in Whatcom County residents younger than 20 years old, The Bellingham Herald’s analysis of age-range data published on the the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard Tuesday, Oct. 19, showed. Those 826 cases represent 30% of the 2,782 total cases within the county during the same time frame.

Based on 2019 U.S. Census estimates for the county, there were 1,573 cases per 100,000 Whatcom residents younger than 20 between Sept. 5 and Oct. 16, The Herald’s analysis found. Meanwhile, Whatcom residents who have celebrated their 20th birthday had an infection rate of 1,107 per 100,000 residents during that period, The Herald found.