See how close Tri-Cities is to lifting state coronavirus restrictions

An updated dashboard compiled by Washington state shows Benton County meeting just one of five goals to move to Phase 2 of reopening and Franklin County meeting none of the targets.

The two counties are among 12 of the state’s 39 counties stuck in Phase 1 of the coronavirus restrictions.

If they can get Washington state Department of Health approval to move to Phase 2, they can resume more construction, open more stores, open hair salons and allow dine-in eating at 50% capacity in restaurants and bars.

Benton County commissioners voted this week to apply for Phase 2 approval immediately.

Franklin County commissioners are considering applying for a modified Phase 1 approval.

It would allow limited business reopening, including allowing a small number of shoppers in more stores, outdoor dining at restaurants and hair salons to open at 25% of building capacity. More construction also could be approved.

The new goals, or targets, are not hard-line measures, according to the Washington State Coronavirus Response Joint Information Center.

Counties will have flexibility to demonstrate they can safely allow additional economic activity based on targets, it said.

“This data, combined with the additional information provided by counties when they apply for approval to move to a new phase, will help us work together to determine when it’s safe for a community to move forward,” said John Wiesman, secretary of the Washington state Department of Health.

COVID testing

Among the goals that Benton and Franklin counties are not meeting is testing capacity, but it is a goal met by only Kitsap County, despite 27 counties in the state being approved for Phase 2 reopening.

The state Department of Health recommends that testing for COVID-19 be more than 50 times the number of new cases in a week.

However, testing supplies and capacity remain inadequate to meet that standard in much of the state.

In Benton County the week of May 21-27, just 66 people were tested on average each day, which was only six tests for each new case that week.

In Franklin County the same week, 33 people were tested on average each day, which was just under four tests for each new case that week.

A related goal, which neither county meets, is to have less than 2% of tests positive during a week.

Franklin County has 28% of tests coming back positive and Benton County has 16% of tests positive.

Tri-Cities hospitals

The goal that Benton County meets is hospital capacity. Just 65% of licensed hospital beds are being used by patients and the goal is less than 80% of beds.

With most of the hospital beds in the Tri-Cities at Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland and Trios Health in Kennewick, Franklin County does not meet that target.

The state says that 96% of the licensed beds in Pasco are filled. Lourdes Medical Center in Pasco has just 25 licensed beds, not counting its rehabilitation unit.

However, the Department of Health likely would consider that many Pasco residents are treated in Kennewick and Richland as officials evaluate applications from Franklin County to open more businesses.

Kadlec is licensed for 337 beds, not all of them yet added to the hospital, and Trios is licensed for 111 beds.

In a related goal, hospitals must have less than 10% of licensed beds being used by COVID-19 patients.

Benton County almost meets that with 11% of beds in use by COVID-19 patients.

Franklin County does not with 36% of Lourdes licensed beds used by COVID-19 patients, according to the state Department of Health.

Coronavirus cases

One of the most significant goals that Benton and Franklin counties are far from meeting is lowering their numbers of new patients diagnosed over a two-week period.

The state said Franklin County had 125 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 from May 14-27 and must get that down to no more than 24.

It said Benton County had 157 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the same two-week period, but must get that down to 50.

Instead, cases have increased in the first few days of June.

Yakima County is even further from meeting the goal with 1,325 cases of COVID-19 over the last two weeks of May, and needing to drop that to about 63 cases.

The target number of cases for each county is based on less than 25 new confirmed cases per 100,000 people in the previous two weeks.

There are also some additional goals, including how quickly health departments are identifying and calling people who may have been exposed to coronavirus by a newly confirmed case. The Benton Franklin Health District says it is close to meeting the goal.

“As we begin to gradually reopen and shift to a county-based plan, it’s crucial we keep an eye on if, where and how COVID-19 is spreading,” said Gov. Jay Inslee.

He said the data in the new dashboard posted at bit.ly/COVIDdashboardWA is intended to provide the public and researchers more information and help officials make “well-reasoned decisions about how we can reopen safely.”

The state says the dashboard is best viewed on laptops.

This story was originally published June 3, 2020 at 12:51 PM.