COVID infections continue to slip in Tri-Cities. No new deaths

Just 31 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and no new deaths from the disease were reported on Tuesday by the Benton Franklin Health district.

They drop the total cases reported in the last two weeks in Benton County to 252. That’s down from 458 in the previous two week period.

The cases for the last two weeks in Franklin County dropped to 269, down from 432 the two previous weeks.

The steady downward trend since early July in new confirmed cases brings the Tri-Cities closer to meeting a state goal of 150 new cases over two weeks in Benton County and about 72 new cases over two weeks in Franklin County to start offering some in-person classes in public schools.

Franklin County has a little less than half the population of Benton County.

Dr. Amy Person, the health officer for the two counties, has attributed the declining number of new cases to many people wearing masks or other face coverings out in public and more testing available.

Testing helps prevent the spread of the virus, she has said.

It allows people who are positive for the coronavirus to isolate at home until they are not contagious and for their close contacts to be reached and asked to self quarantine until it can be confirmed that they are not infected.

The news on locally hospitalized patients being treated for COVID-19 also was good on Tuesday.

The number dropped to just 30 patients. Hospitalized patients have dropped into the 30s since after Aug. 4, but has not been as low as 30.

At the start of July, 89 people were being treated in Benton and Franklin hospitals for COVID-19 up from as few as 28 on April 27.

The 30 COVID patients accounted for just 9% of all patients at hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser, which appears to be the lowest percentage reported since at least mid April. At the start of this month COVID patients accounted for about 15% of all locally hospitalized patients.

Deaths since the start of the pandemic remain at 156, including 45 in Franklin County and 111 in Benton County.

Washington state

The Washington State Department of Health on Monday reported 359 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and four deaths.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 71,371 cases and 1,867 deaths, up from 71,012 cases and 1,863 deaths Sunday.

Thirty people with confirmed COVID-19 cases were admitted to Washington state hospitals on Aug. 16, the most recent date with complete data. Late March had two days with 88 people admitted, the highest numbers to date during the pandemic.

King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 18,797 cases and 716 deaths. Yakima County is second, with 10,830 cases and 235 deaths. Pierce is third with cases at 6,564.

All counties in Washington have cases. Garfield and Wahkiakum have case counts of fewer than 10.

On Monday, Washington had a 942-per-100,000-people case rate. The national rate is 1,734, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Louisiana has the highest rate in the United States at 3,068. Vermont is lowest at 249.

There had been nearly 5.7 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 177,179 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Monday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 810,000 people have died from the disease worldwide.

Craig Sailor of The (Tacoma) News Tribune contributed to this report.

This story was originally published August 25, 2020 at 1:14 PM.