BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – Monday, March 10 marks the five-year anniversary since Whatcom County saw its first confirmed case of COVID-19.

Whatcom County Health and Community Services reported the case, stating the patient was a woman in her 60s who received care at PeaceHealth St. Joseph’s Medical Center.

According to the department, the woman’s condition improved, she was later discharged and continued to self-isolate at home.

The county health department stopped publishing COVID-19 Data Reports in May of 2022, but the county saw over 300 deaths related to the virus in the first three years of the pandemic.

County health spokesperson Ron Warner says that we also saw 5,740 visits to the emergency room due to COVID-19 and more than 2,000 hospitalizations during that three-year span.