New COVID cases jump in Tri-Cities area, but fewer hospitalized

The numbers of new confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported on Friday in the Tri-Cities region jumped to 74.

That was up from 37 reported by the Benton Franklin Health District a day earlier, 28 on Wednesday, 47 on Tuesday and an average of 50 each day for the three previous days.

However, last Friday there was a higher number of new cases reported, 93, than this Friday.

Local public health officials have cautioned area residents not to put too much weight on a single day’s report of new cases, but to watch trends.

On Thursday Dr. Amy Person, the health officer for Benton and Franklin counties, said new cases have fallen by 50 percent since the beginning of July.

They are still rated as “high” under the state’s recommendations to allow even a partial return to class for K-12 students, but the downward trend holds promise for returning some students to in-school class in late fall, Person said.

Benton County has had 207 new cases per 100,000 people and Franklin has 422 per 100,000 over a recent two-week stretch.

To allow a partial return to class, the state recommends 75 cases or fewer per 100,000 people during a two-week period for partial reopening.

That needs to drop to 25 or fewer per 100,000 in two weeks for a full return to classrooms.

It is the same target the state will consider when it again allows counties to apply to move to new phases of reopening more businesses and allowing gatherings. However, there have been many exceptions made, including allowing Benton and Franklin counties to advance to modified Phase 1 earlier this summer.

The good news in Friday’s report from the local health district was no new deaths announced and a drop from the day before in the number of local hospital patients being treated for COVID-19.

There were 33 patients being treated for COVID — either with positive test results or pending test results — in hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser.

They accounted for just under 11% of all hospitalized patients.

On Thursday, 39 COVID patients were reported in local hospitals. That’s still less than half of the 89 patients at the start of July.

The new cases reported on Friday included 60 in Franklin County for a total of 3,659 cases in residents there confirmed with positive test results. The other 14 were in Benton County for a total of 3,815.

Total cases for both counties are 7,474. The local health district does not track how many are still positive.

It also does not have data on the number of COVID cases, because of data issues at the state level.

The tally of deaths from the coronavirus stands at 110 in Benton County and 43 in Franklin County for a total of 153.

This story was originally published August 14, 2020 at 1:40 PM.