1st coronavirus case in Tri-Cities confirmed by health district

The Tri-Cities area has its first confirmed case of COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, according to the Benton Franklin Health District.

It is a Franklin County woman in her 20s with underlying health conditions. She is being treated at a local hospital.

“At this early stage the case does appear to be associated with travel, but this is very early in the investigation,” said Dr. Amy Person, health officer for Benton and Franklin counties

The travel was out of the United States, although specifics have not been made public.

The local health district now is working to identify anyone who may have an increased exposure risk because of close contact with her.

“As public health, we have expected this and we are prepared for this,” Person said at a news conference on Tuesday. “Regardless of where it was contracted, everyone can and should be taking steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”

Although this is the first confirmed case in Benton and Franklin counties, health officials believe the virus has already been circulating in the community. A lack of testing supplies has limited the number of sick people who could be tested.

The local health district has been following the case of the Franklin County woman before she had a positive test result for the virus, said Ben Shearer, who is an acting spokesman for the health district during the coronavirus spread.

The district also is watching other patients who may have coronavirus and is working with their health care providers, he said.

“People should not assume this is the only case,” he said. The health district is prepared for “a ramp up of cases.”

Help for health district

The challenge with COVID-19 is that it share similar symptoms with other types of respiratory infections, Person said.

Fever, cough, sore throat and shortness of breath are common symptoms and the illness may be mild to a serious case of pneumonia.

“We are asking providers to treat everyone with an acute respiratory infection as if they may have COVID-19,” Person said.

With the first laboratory-confirmed case in Benton and Franklin counties, an incident command team is being assigned to the Tri-Cities area.

It is expected to have five members, likely firefighters who are used to incident command for wildfires.

They will help the with some daily operations and management duties, including communicating with the public, to free up the time of health district employees for work requiring their health-related knowledge.

Because the Tri-Cities is a regional health care center for much of the Mid-Columbia, Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland already is treating a COVID-19 case, a Mattawa priest.

Other E. Washington cases

His case is considered a Grant County case and not included in Benton and Franklin county statistics.

There have been at least 18 previous cases of novel coronavirus identified in Eastern Washington.

In Eastern Washington, Grant County Health District announced Monday evening that it now has seven cases, four of them not yet included in the state count.

The new cases and additional suspect cases under investigation in Grant County are tied to the communities of Mattawa, where the Rev. Alejandro “Alex” Trejo serves, and Quincy, where an elderly resident died from COVID-19.

Yakima County had four cases, Spokane and Kittitas counties each had three cases and Columbia County had one, as of Monday evening.

Statewide the number of confirmed cases jumped from 769 on Sunday to 904 by Monday afternoon. The number of deaths increased from 42 to 48. All but five of the deaths were in King County.

Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland is not allowing visitors for most of its patients starting Tuesday, it announced Monday night.

Trios Southridge Hopsital in Kennewick and Lourdes Medical Center in Pasco also have tightened restrictions on visitors during the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Virus transmission

Coronavirus is spread through contact between people within six feet of each other, especially through that land on people nearby or on surfaces that people then touch, infecting themselves.

Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough and shortness of breath, which may occur two days to two weeks after exposure.

The disease is especially dangerous for the elderly, pregnant women and people with other health conditions, such as weakened immune systems, heart disease, lung disease or diabetes.

Tips to stay healthy

Public health officials continue to have the same guidance as they did before this first case was confirmed.

People who have symptoms of the illness should stay home, self-isolate and call their health care provider. Only health care providers can order a coronavirus test and may reserve them for the most serious cases.

Steps to prevent the spread of the illness include:

• Washing your hands often
• Avoiding touching your eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands
• Avoiding contact with people who are sick and also people who appear well while in public settings
• Staying at home while sick
• Sanitizing surfaces
• Covering your mouth and nose with a tissue or sleeve when coughing or sneezing.

This story was originally published March 17, 2020 at 10:28 AM.