Tri-Cities COVID cases jump to highest daily number since Tyson outbreak
The Tri-Cities area has 47 new known cases of COVID-19, the Benton Franklin Health District reported on Tuesday, bringing total known cases since March to 1,785.
From Saturday through Monday there were 120 new cases in the Tri-Cities area for a total of 167 in four days.
The 47 new cases in the Tri-Cities area reported on Tuesday were the most in recent days, with 42 reported on Saturday, 40 on Sunday and 38 on Monday.
It’s the highest number of daily cases since early May when there was an outbreak at the Tyson Fresh Meats beef processing plant south of Pasco. On May 3, 48 known cases were reported in the Tri-Cities area.
The total known confirmed and probable cases in Benton County since the start of the pandemic is 999. In Franklin County, with about half the population of Benton County, the total is 786.
Information on how many of the cases are active is not available from any government or other health agency.
No additional deaths due to complications of COVID-19 were reported on Tuesday, following two deaths reported on Monday.
The two most recent deaths were Benton County women, both in their 70s with underlying health conditions that put them at increased risk of a severe illness if infected with the new coronavirus.
They bring the total deaths since March to 84, including 67 in Benton County and 17 in Franklin County.
Business reopening targets
The state of Washington has set targets for counties for new confirmed cases to move to Phase 2 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s “Safe Start” program to allow more businesses to reopen.
Under Phase 2 hair salons can open and dine-in restaurants can reopen at 50% capacity.
Benton County needs to have no more than 50 new cases in two weeks in Benton County and Franklin County needs to have no more than 24 cases, both of which were exceeded since Friday.
The cases reported just since Friday included 72 cases confirmed through testing in Benton County and 87 in Franklin County, with the bicounty area also having eight cases considered probable.
Probable cases are not considered in the state targets set for moving from Phase 1 to Phase 2. They are cases in which no test results are available, but patients had symptoms and close contact with a confirmed case.
The number of hospital patients with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 dropped in 24 hours from 59 to 52, as reported on Tuesday for Benton and Franklin counties.
That’s still up significantly from the 35 people hospitalized at the start of last week.
The current patients being treated for COVID-19 account for 18% of hospitalized patients in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser.
The Washington state Department of Health says 138 Benton County residents and 68 Franklin County residents with confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been hospitalized since the start of the pandemic.
Health workers ill
The number of healthcare workers diagnosed with COVID-19 since March has reached 217, including five more workers diagnosed as of Tuesday.
There were a total of 13 workers diagnosed since Friday, which includes those who care for patients in hospitals, clinics and nursing homes.
Three more residents of retirement communities or long-term care homes have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the Benton Franklin Health District said on Tuesday. Those cases bring the total to 206.
The local health district also reported that three more staff in the homes have COVID-19.
More than 70% of the deaths in the Tri-Cities area — 61 of 84 — are associated with senior living or long-term care facilities, where some of the Tri-Cities most vulnerable residents live.
That at least partly explains the much higher number of deaths in Benton County compared to Franklin County. The majority of the homes for seniors in the Tri-Cities are in Richland and Kennewick.
Statewide, 1,124 people have died of complications of COVID-19 and a total of 21,977 cases have been reported, including 3,517 that required hospitalization, according to the state Department of Health.