156th death from COVID reported in the Tri-Cities area. New cases continue decline
The death toll from COVID-19 has reached 156 in the Tri-Cities area, with the death of a Franklin County man announced on Monday.
The Benton Franklin Health District announced 89 new confirmed cases on Monday since Friday.
That’s an average of about 30 new cases for each of the three days.
That compares to an average if 38 new daily cases over the past two weeks in the two counties combined.
Benton County had 51 total cases reported for the past three days and Franklin County had 38 cases.
They bring the total over the past two weeks in Benton County to 256 and in Franklin County to 280, continuing the downward trend in new infections since early July.
That compares to 264 in Benton County and 336 in Franklin County over the past two weeks as of Friday.
They are gradually getting closer to meeting the state goal to begin to partially reopen public schools. Benton County needs to drop to about 150 cases and Franklin County needs to get to about 72 cases.
For the most recent 14 days, cases have averaged 18 per day in Benton County and 20 per day in Franklin County.
The most recent death was a man in his 70s who was at risk of severe illness if infected with the coronavirus both because of his age and his underlying health conditions.
Since the start of the pandemic there have been 45 deaths due to complications of COVID-19 in Franklin County and 111 in Benton County, which has about twice as many people as Franklin County.
In the past two weeks there have been 256 new cases in Benton County and 280 in Franklin County.
The number of people hospitalized locally for treatment of COVID-19 dropped to 33 on Monday, down from 38 reported on Friday.
The number has been in the 30s since Aug. 4 and were as high as 89 at the start of July.
The 33 patients being treated for COVID-19 on Monday accounted for just 10% of all patients in hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser.
This story was originally published August 24, 2020 at 1:47 PM.