For a 2nd day new coronavirus cases hold steady in Tri-Cities, no new deaths

For a second day in a row no new deaths from COVID-19 were reported in the Tri-Cities area and the number of new confirmed cases held steady.

The Benton Franklin Health District reported 74 new confirmed cases on Friday.

That’s close to — and down slightly — from the 82 cases reported on Thursday.

New case numbers have been up and down this week, with a high for recent days of 172 new cases reported on Tuesday. That’s still lower than reports of more than 200 new cases on a couple of days since mid June.

In general new daily case numbers appear to have flattened recently, said public health officials at a news conference on Thursday.

In other promising news on Friday, the number of people reported hospitalized locally for treatment of COVID-19 dropped below the 60s to 59.

Numbers have been running in the 60s most days after reaching 89 people hospitalized locally for COVID treatment midmonth. But they were often in the 30s during May.

The 59 people reported hospitalized on Friday — with either positive COVID-19 tests or awaiting test results — accounted for 18% of patients at hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser. The percentage had climbed above 20% earlier this month.

COVID cases

The total new cases reported on Friday included 35 residents of Benton County for 3,466 since the start of the pandemic.

Franklin County had 39 new cases confirmed for a total of 3,249. Together the two counties have had 6,715 confirmed cases of infection with the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.

The number deaths remains at 139, including 100 residents of Benton County and 39 residents of Franklin County.

Benton County has about twice as many people as Franklin County and a larger percentage of people who are 65 and older, putting them at increased risk of a severe case of COVID-19.

It also has the majority of long-term care homes for the Tri-Cities area, and outbreaks tied to the facilities early in the pandemic claimed dozens of lives.

Although the number of new cases in the Tri-Cities is not growing, they still are far above targets set by the Washington state Department of Health.

The state wants to see no more than 50 new cases total in two weeks in Benton County and no more than 24 new cases total in two weeks in Franklin County.

The target is based on fewer than 25 new cases per 100,000 population over two weeks. Only four counties in the state are meeting that target based on data for July 11-24.

The general halt to an increase in new cases observed in the Tri-Cities may be due to more people wearing face coverings, particularly while shopping.

In part because of surveys that are showing nearly all shoppers are wearing masks, the state Department of Health is allowing some additional business and recreational activities starting Saturday, Aug. 1.