Washington county that borders B.C. dealing with COVID-19 surge as Canada begins welcoming Americans

Vancouver -

The Washington State county immediately south of Metro Vancouver is dealing with "a significant increase in COVID-19 activity," health officials there said Friday.

This week's case count in Whatcom County - home to Blaine and Bellingham, popular cross-border shopping destinations before the pandemic - was the fourth-highest the county has seen since the start of the pandemic, officials said in a news release.

“We are all disappointed that we’re entering another significant surge, after much community effort to re-open our economy and ensure access to vaccines,” said Erika Lautenbach, director of the Whatcom County Health Department, in the release.

The county said cases are "regularly approaching highs not seen since January (2021)," which was the all-time peak in the region.

The surge comes the same week that Canada reopened its border to fully vaccinated travellers from the United States. The U.S. has so far not extended the same welcome to vaccinated Canadian travellers. 

County health officials urged residents to get vaccinated if they haven't already. They also stressed the need to take additional precautions, such as wearing a mask, avoiding crowded spaces and seeking testing as soon as possible if experiencing symptoms of COVID-19.

Masks are mandatory for unvaccinated people in all indoor public spaces in the county, and they are strongly recommended for people who have been vaccinated.

“Right now our community is facing even higher levels of infection, but we’re not helpless,” said Whatcom County health officer Dr. Greg Stern, in the release.

“We can protect ourselves and our community from this dangerous virus by taking immediate, familiar preventive actions that have worked in the past, and with more people getting vaccinated, can turn things around this time."