Why can’t the Tri-Cities reopen yet? Here’s what needs to happen

Many Eastern Washington counties have been allowed to reopen more businesses, but the Tri-Cities area is not close to meeting a key requirement to join them.

Daily coronavirus cases have dropped in Benton and Franklin counties, but they still remain much higher per capita than many others in Washington state.

The two counties are among 14 of the 39 in the state not yet approved for Phase 2 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s Safe Start plan. They aren’t even eligible to apply.

Phase 2 allows hair salons and bars to open and some in-store purchasing. And restaurants and bars can open inside seating at 50% capacity. Gatherings of up to five people also are allowed.

Spokane, Adams and Columbia counties are among those approved for Phase 2, and Grant County is eligible to apply.

Walla Walla County has announced plans to apply for a variance to enter Phase 2, although it’s not one of the counties the governor’s office had listed as eligible yet.

June 1 was the initial goal to move into Phase 2 across the state, but the governor has since started allowing counties that meet the criteria to reopen earlier.

What happens June 1 in the rest of the state will be based on “public health data and science, not the calendar,” he said on Friday.

‘”To be clear: this does not mean that we will be able to open every county in the state on June 1,” he said.

“Counties that continue to have large numbers of infections are not in a position to open up stores, restaurants and services safely.”

Officials at the Benton Franklin Health District are using the state criteria for early Phase 2 approval as a guide to what must be done to allow more Tri-Cities businesses to reopen.

Cut new cases

The biggest issue locally is to cut new coronavirus cases to no more than 10 new cases per 100,000 people over two weeks.

For the two counties combined that would mean no more than 29 cases during two weeks.

Franklin County had a rate of 112 cases per 100,000 people and Benton County had a rate of 74 cases per 100,000 people in a recent two week period, according to the Benton Franklin Health District.

The Washington state Department of Health is reporting lower case rates per 100,000 people for the two counties, but still far higher than 29 cases over two weeks.

The bicounty area has been averaging 18 cases per day, the local health district said.

As of Thursday it had 252 new known cases in 14 days, said Rick Dawson, senior manager of the Benton Franklin Health District.

“The positive note is we have seen a decreasing trend in the number of cases we are seeing,” Dr. Amy Person, the health officer for the district, said at the district board meeting this week.

“We are having an impact, probably just not quite as fast as some would like to see,” she said.

Testing

Benton and Franklin counties also falls short on COVID-19 testing capabilities.

They need to be capable of about 500 tests a day through a variety of hospital, clinic and laboratory services to show that no more than 2% of the tests are positive for COVID-19 in a week.

“We don’t think we are there and we are certainly not seeing 500 test results coming in in a day,” Dawson said.

If there are not enough testing supplies, tests are likely to be done on those most likely to be ill, among other criteria, such as their risk for developing serious complications from COVID-19.

Some clinics continue to have difficulty getting supplies for the tests.

“Hopefully that’s going to get better really quickly because we want to move forward,” Dawson said.

Testing also should be done in less than 48 hours after people get sick. Now testing typically is being done in the Tri-Cities in about four days.

Hospital capacity

The local healthcare system stands mostly ready to meet the needs of COVID-19 patients with space in hospitals and their intensive care units, ventilators and other equipment available, and adequate personal protective supplies, according to public health officials.

Planning done by hospitals in recent years, including during the 2009 swine flu pandemic, has helped hospitals know what they need to do to be prepared for pandemics, Dr. Person said.

The hospitals in the district are at 59% occupancy, meeting the target for opening more businesses, according to the local health district.

However, 14.5% of hospital beds are being used for suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients, which is above the target of 10% or less. The Tri-Cities has hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser.

Tri-City hospitals have adequate supplies at this time.

Dr. Person said that 38% of ventilators are not being used and hospitals have at least a couple months of personal protective equipment supplies on hand.

Elder care

Benton Franklin Health District also has to show it is meeting certain standards.

It must be able to protect its high-risk populations, including elderly people in long-term care homes.

The state requires fewer or no outbreaks in long-term care homes and that existing outbreaks not worsen.

“We think we are very, very close to meeting that metric,” Dawson said.

Some of the earliest cases reported in the Tri-Cities area were in retirement and long-term care homes.

There have been 55 deaths and 185 COVID-19 cases reported since the start of the pandemic in residents of the homes.

But in the last week, there have been just two new cases in residents, according to the local health district.

Tracing

The district also must be contacting newly diagnosed COVID-19 patients within 24 hours to conduct an interview to learn more about where they might have been infected with the new coronavirus and who they might have infected.

Then, in the next 48 hours, health district officials must notify any close contacts of the patient they may have infected.

Dawson said they have been meeting that standard.

Those diagnosed are asked to self-isolate for about seven days after they show symptoms.

People who have been in close contact with the patient — less than six feet away for at least 10 minutes — are asked to quarantine, or stay home, for 14 days to monitor whether symptoms of COVID-19 develop.

Under a new request of the Washington state Department of Health, local public health officials will be calling people during that 14-day period to check on their health and see how they are navigating the challenging task of staying home for 14 days.

Answering questions is voluntary, but public health officials encourage cooperation for the health of the community.

“We don’t issue orders for isolation and quarantine,” Dawson said. “We ask people and we do it over the phone.”

Most people are willing to isolate or quarantine to protect others, he said.

Current cases

Applying for a variance is up to Benton and Franklin county commissions, which could apply separately.

Now neither county is close to meeting the requirement of no more than 10 new cases in two weeks per 100,000 people.

Over the last 10 days known cases in Benton and Franklin counties have increased by about 1% to 3% a day. As of this weekend, the number of known cases in the two counties was 1,437.

The number of deaths since the start of the pandemic has totaled 78. The latest death, a Benton County man in his 70s with underlying health conditions, was reported on Friday.

Statewide 19,256 cases and 1,050 deaths have been reported.

This story was originally published May 23, 2020 at 10:35 AM.