1st coronavirus death reported in 6 days. New cases drop again in Tri-Cities area

Only 27 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported Wednesday in the Tri-Cities area.

That continues the downward trend in new cases since the start of July. The number of patients being treated in local hospitals for COVID-19 also remained in the 30s, less than half the number at the start of July.

One additional death was reported, a Benton County man in his 80s. He was at increased risk of a severe illness if infected with the coronavirus both because of his age and because he had underlying health conditions.

It was the first death reported since Aug. 13.

The 27 confirmed cases reported on Wednesday were down from an average of 44 cases per day for the previous four days.

The Benton Franklin Health District cautions residents not to put too much stock into a single day’s report of new cases.

But the low total on Wednesday does drop the number of new cases for the previous 14 days from 314 reported on Tuesday to 293 reported on Wednesday for Benton County and from 361 to 353 for Franklin County.

The number of new cases over the past two weeks is considered a key to whether schools can safely reopen and will be considered by state officials when they again accept applications for increased business activity and allowing small non-household gatherings in the Tri-Cities.

Although the number of new cases has dropped by at least 50 percent since early July, it still remains above state standards for limited reopening of schools. The recommendation for Benton County is fewer than 150 new cases over two weeks and for Franklin County it must be fewer than about 72 new cases.

The target that will be considered by state officials to allow more business reopenings and to recommend full reopening of schools is a third of that.

However, Dr. Amy Person, health officer for Benton and Franklin counties, has said that schools could move to partial reopening later this fall if new cases continue to decline.

Hospital cases

Data about the number of COVID tests being administered recently in the Tri-Cities area is temporarily not available from the Benton Franklin Health District because of statewide changes in the state’s methodology for reporting testing.

But the drop in the number of people being hospitalized helps confirm that the decline in new cases is not just because of any potential decrease in the number of people being tested.

On Wednesday the local health district reported 36 people being treated for COVID in local hospitals, down one patient from the day before.

They accounted for 11% of total patients in hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser. It’s a level that meets state-set targets for hospital capacity, should cases increase when more activity is allowed in the two counties.

For much of May the number of people hospitalized locally for treatment of COVID was in the 30s, but it jumped to as high as 89 at the start of July.

The new cases reported on Wednesday bring total cases in Benton and Franklin counties to 7,678 since the start of the pandemic. Deaths total 154, according to the local health district.

The local health district does not add deaths to its tally unless the person had a positive COVID test result and the death certificate verifies that COVID was the cause of death.

This story was originally published August 19, 2020 at 1:29 PM.