Death toll now 90 in Tri-Cities area. Daily COVID case count above reopening targets

Three deaths from complications of COVID-19 and 44 more confirmed cases were reported for the Tri-Cities area on Wednesday.

There now have been 90 deaths in Benton and Franklin counties.

The most recent deaths included a Benton County woman in her 70s and a Benton County woman in her 60s. Both had underlying health conditions that put them at risk of a severe case.

The third death was a Franklin County man in his 70s.

His is the fifth death in the Tri-Cities area of a person without health conditions such as heart or lung disease, diabetes or obesity.

He was the 19th person to die from COVID complications in Franklin County. Benton County has had 71 deaths.

Just one of the three latest deaths was linked to a long-term care or retirement center.

The Benton Franklin Health District says that 64 of the total deaths have been linked to such homes, or 71% of deaths.

The new confirmed cases include 20 in Benton County for a total of 1,015 since the start of the pandemic and 23 in Franklin County for a total of 842 cases.

The total for the two counties is 1,860, which includes three Tri-Cities area cases not yet assigned to a county of residence.

The state Department of Health has set targets based on population for the two counties to move to Phase 2 of business reopenings, although counties can apply and provide information on how they plan to reduce case counts.

Benton County applied Tuesday and Franklin County expected to apply Wednesday.

Neither county is close to meeting targets for new cases.

Benton County should have no more than 50 new cases over two weeks, and Franklin County should have no more than 24 cases over two weeks.

Hospitalized cases high

One more confirmed case was reported on Wednesday in a resident of a long-term care or senior living center, bringing the total to 207.

While there have been outbreaks at long-term care centers and at some food processing plants, including Tyson Fresh Meats south of Pasco, the health district said now most cases are not linked to specific outbreaks. They call it “community spread.”

Healthcare workers who care for patients continue to be vulnerable to infection, with 207 reported COVID-19 diagnoses since the start of the pandemic, according to an adjusted total released by the local health district Wednesday.

Until this week the district had included probable cases in the data it releases each weekday. Those are cases in which no test results were available — which was much more common early in the pandemic — but patients had symptoms and close contact with confirmed cases.

The health district has stopped reporting probable cases now that anyone with symptoms should be able to be tested in the Tri-Cities area.

The number of hospitalized patients remains comparatively high.

On Wednesday, the local health district reported 61 hospitalized patients being treated for confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19.

They account for 23% of the patients in hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser.

Less than three weeks ago, the number of hospitalized patients being treated for possible COVID-19 was as low as 35. On Tuesday there were 62 patients.

The Washington state Department of Health reports 248 Benton and Franklin county residents have been hospitalized with COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

Because the Tri-Cities is a health center for the region, people from nearby counties also may be treated for COVID at Tri-Cities hospitals.

The state Department of Health reports 1,176 deaths statewide from COVID complications and 24,354 cases.