Tri-Cities COVID-19 death toll remains one of highest in Washington state

Ten more COVID-19 cases were reported in the Tri-Cities area Wednesday, including six more cases in people living in retirement communities or long-term care homes.

No new deaths were reported by the Benton Franklin Health District, leaving the total deaths in the two counties attributed to the new coronavirus at 69.

Just four counties in Washington state, including Yakima County, have reported more deaths than Benton County.

Benton County has 55 deaths and Yakima County has 65, which is still fewer than Benton and Franklin counties combined.

Spokane County has had 29 deaths and most Eastern Washington counties have had just a couple people die, including three in Grant County, two in Walla Walla County and none in Columbia County.

The other counties with the highest death tallies are west of the Cascade Mountains, including King County with 513 deaths, Snohomish County with 121 deaths and Pierce County with 59 deaths, as reported by the Washington state Department of Health.

The state website information does not always match individual county reports because of lags of a day or two in adding new deaths.

Tri-Cities COVID-19 cases

The number of known cases of COVID-19 in Benton and Franklin counties is 1,263.

That’s an increase of just under 1%. Tuesday the increase was just over 1% and Monday it was near 2%

Although the rate of new case reports has generally averaged lower in recent days than in most of April and early May, public health officials are watching for a flat or downward trend over two to three weeks as an indication that the Tri-Cities is doing better at containing the spread of the new coronavirus.

Known cases spiked in early May after all workers at the Tyson Fresh Meats plant south of Pasco were tested for COVID-19 because of an outbreak among plant employees.

Three of the beef processing plant workers who lived in the Tri-Cities area have died.

Another worker at the plant was added Tuesday to the tally of workers diagnosed with COVID-19, bringing the known cases for Tyson workers who live in the Tri-Cities area to 251.

At least 10 more cases have been reported in workers at the Tyson beef plant who live in Walla Walla and Umatilla counties.

Senior care centers

The six new cases in residents of retirement communities or long-term care centers, such as nursing homes, brings the total for that vulnerable population to 175 since the start of the pandemic.

That includes 48 people have died of complications of COVID-19.

No additional healthcare workers were reported to be infected on Wednesday, leaving the total at 176.

The number of hospital patients with COVID-19 or suspected of being infected with the new coronavirus dropped from 36 to 33, as reported Wednesday.

They account for 11% of the patients in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals.

The breakdown of Tri-Cities area known cases by county include 732 in Benton County and 531 in Franklin County.

Most cases have been confirmed by testing but no test results were available for 19% of the cases.

Those cases are considered probable because patients have had symptoms and close contact with confirmed cases.

This story was originally published May 13, 2020 at 1:31 PM.