COVID infections jump on Friday. Tri-Cities tops 8,000-case mark

The number of new COVID-19 cases reported in the Tri-Cities area jumped to 70 on Friday, a significantly higher number than most recent days.

On Thursday 33 cases were reported and on Wednesday there were 26.

The cases reported on Friday brought the total confirmed cases for the two counties since the start of the pandemic to more than 8,000.

The Benton Franklin Health District could not immediately determine any specific reason for the increase, but this month cases, based on positive test results reported, have tended to bump up on Fridays.

Last Friday just 47 cases were reported but on Aug. 14, there were 74 cases and the Friday before there were 93.

Cases in past two weeks total 296 in Benton County and 229 in Franklin County.

Washington state Department of Health still considers it a high infection rate when there are more than 150 cases over two weeks, based on Benton County’s population and about 72 cases over two weeks in Franklin County.

It does not recommend that K-12 schools hold even limited in-person classes until cases drop lower than that.

The local health district recommends looking at trends, rather than just a single day’s high or low number of new cases, to assess how counties are faring.

Since the first of July, new daily cases have dropped more than 50% in the two counties. There were some days earlier this year when more than 200 cases were reported for the two counties combined.

The total for the past two weeks in Benton County was 43 cases below the previous two weeks. Franklin County was able to lower its new cases in the past two weeks from the previous two weeks by 174.

The new cases reported on Friday included 46 in Benton County for a total of 4,105 since the start of the pandemic and 24 new cases in Franklin County for a total of 3,898.

Deaths, hospitalizations

In good news, no new deaths from complications of COVID-19 were reported on Friday. They remain at 156, including 45 in Franklin County and 111 in Benton County.

The number of patients being treated for COVID-19 in local hospitals remained in the 30s.

They numbered 36 on Friday, which was down from 38 a week ago. Numbers have ranged from as few as 28 people hospitalized locally for COVID treatment on April 27 to 89 patients at the start of July.

The 36 patients being treated for COVID-19 reported on Friday account for about 11% of all patients at hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser. The percentage had dropped below 10% earlier this week.

Washington state

The Washington State Department of Health on Thursday reported 542 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 10 deaths.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 72,703 cases and 1,890 deaths.

Thirty-nine people with confirmed COVID-19 cases were admitted to Washington state hospitals on Aug. 9, the most recent date with complete data. Late March had two days with 88 people admitted, the highest numbers to date during the pandemic.

On Aug. 16, the most recent date with complete data, 4,953 specimens were collected statewide, with 3.2% testing positive. The average positive test rate for the seven days prior was 4%. More than 1.4 million tests have been conducted in Washington.

King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 19,155 cases and 722 deaths. Yakima County is second, with 10,869 cases and 238 deaths. Pierce is third with cases at 6,661 and 164 deaths.

Benton ranks sixth for both cases and deaths and Franklin ranks seventh.

Garfield and Wahkiakum have the lowest total case counts, with fewer than 10 cases each.

On Thursday, Washington had a 958-per-100,000-people case rate. The national rate is 1,769, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Louisiana has the highest rate in the United States at 3,126. Vermont is lowest at 252.

There had been nearly 5.8 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 180,527 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Thursday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 828,000 people have died from the disease worldwide.

This story was originally published August 28, 2020 at 12:53 PM.