COVID cases climbing this week in Tri-Cities area, surpassing 5,000 mark

Another 184 cases of COVID-19 and one more death from complications of the disease were reported in Benton and Franklin counties on Wednesday.

The number of confirmed cases in the two-county area topped 5,000 on Wednesday for a total of 5,176 since the start of the pandemic, according to the Benton Franklin Health District.

Cases reported Wednesday were up from 142 reported the day before and an average of 114 cases for the three days before that.

However, the daily case count has been higher. On a couple of days in recent weeks, the bicounty case total has topped 200.

Public health officials have been watching to see the effects of large gatherings over the July 4 weekend, which could show up in higher case totals this week, and then a possible gradual decrease of cases over the next few weeks that is possible because more people are wearing masks in public.

A recent survey found 95% of shoppers leaving eight grocery stores in Benton and Franklin counties had face coverings.

The death announced on Wednesday was a Franklin County man in his 80s. Both his age and his underlying health conditions put him at increased risk of a severe case of COVID-19.

His death brings the total for the Tri-Cities area to 122, including 20 deaths so far this month. The total was boosted by six deaths reported on Tuesday.

There have been 90 deaths in Benton County and 32 in Franklin County.

COVID cases

The new cases announced Wednesday included 136 in Benton County to bring the total there since the start of the pandemic to 2,623.

Franklin County, which had more confirmed cases than Benton County just a day earlier, had 48 more cases identified for a total of 2,553.

Pasco, the second largest of the Tri-Cities, now has has 2,233 known cases, which is slightly more than Kennewick, Richland and West Richland combined at 2,221.

Pasco has a larger percentage of residents in agriculture and food processing jobs who have continued to report to job sites throughout the pandemic, putting them at greater risk of infection than people who can telecommute.

The state of Oregon announced new safety mandates on Monday when it reached 12,438 confirmed coronavirus cases — compared to 5,176 in just Benton and Franklin counties — and 237 deaths statewide, slightly less than double the deaths in the Tri-Cities area.

New measures in Oregon that started Wednesday include no indoor social gatherings of more than 10 people and requiring people to wear face coverings outdoors if they may be close to nonhousehold members.

Among its three counties that have had the highest rates of infection per population in recent weeks are Umatilla and Morrow counties, both of which share the state line with Benton County.

In Washington state there have been 1,404 deaths attributed to complications of COVID-19 and 42,304 confirmed cases, according to the Washington state Department of Health.

The new cases announced Wednesday in Benton and Franklin counties exceed the targets the state Department of Health have set for a full two weeks as it considers allowing continued reopening.

Benton County’s goal is no more than 50 new cases in two weeks and Franklin County, which has about half has many people, has a goal of no more than 24 cases in two weeks.

However, because of the large number of cases in the state, Gov. Jay Inslee has put a pause on more reopening of counties in the state until at least July 28.

Hospital cases

The state Department of Health also is watching hospital capacity closely.

The number of patients being treated for COVID-19 in Benton and Franklin county hospitals remained at 68 for a second day in a row.

That is down from a peak of 89 reported last month but close to double the number reported for much of May.

The 68 patients, who either have a positive test result or are awaiting test results, account for 21% of patients in the hospital in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser.

The Hispanic population has been particularly hard hit by COVID-19 in Benton and Franklin counties.

The local health district reports that 47% of cases have been in Latinos, who make up 33% of the population of the two counties.

Non-Hispanic whites account for 17% of cases although they make up nearly 60% of cases.

Blacks, Asians, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans and people with two or more races make up about 3% of cases and 7% of the population

In the remainder of cases, information on race or ethnicity was not available.

This story was originally published July 15, 2020 at 1:39 PM.