Youngest COVID death so far in Tri-Cities. New infections average 102 a day
Three more deaths from complications of COVID-19 were reported in Benton and Franklin counties on Monday.
They included the youngest death to date, a Benton County man in his 40s with no reported underlying health conditions that would have put him at risk of a severe case of the disease.
The other two deaths were Franklin County women — one in her 70s and one in her 80s — both with underlying health conditions that along with their age put them at risk of a severe case.
New confirmed cases since those reported on Friday averaged almost 102 per day, according to the Benton Franklin Health District.
Reports released over the previous week — July 10-17 — averaged 123 cases per day.
The Washington state Department of Health is not allowing any county to advance to the next phase of the Safe Start plan to reopen businesses and allow small gatherings until at least July 28.
Benton and Franklin county are among five in the state with the most limited reopening of businesses in a modified Phase 1 of reopening.
Although the state is not accepting applications and on Monday returned applications from seven counties, it will be looking at new case totals for the Tri-Cities area when Benton and Franklin counties next apply.
It wants to see no more than 50 new cases total in Benton County over two weeks and no more than 24 in Franklin County.
Cases and deaths
The three-day total of new cases announced by the Benton Franklin Health District included 159 new cases in Benton County for a total of 2,884 there since the start of the pandemic and 146 new cases in Franklin County for a total of 2,974 there.
Together the two counties have had 5,677 confirmed cases and 132 deaths.
Thirty of the deaths have been reported by the local health district this month.
The deaths include 97 residents of Benton County and 35 Franklin County residents.
The health district on Monday reported 2,214 more people tested for COVID-19 for a total since the start of the pandemic of 27,477.
The good news was that the number of people hospitalized for treatment of COVID-19 in the two counties dropped to 57, as reported Monday.
The number of hospitalized patients had been reported as 82 on both Thursday and Friday and had been as high as 89 on one day in June. However, the number of hospitalized patients was still well above May numbers, which were mostly in the 30s.
The patients been treated for COVID-19 as the week started was 18% of the total hospitalized patients in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser. The percentage had been running in the 20s recently.
This story was originally published July 20, 2020 at 2:27 PM.