Another Tri-Cities COVID death. It was the first in 8 days

Another Tri-Cities area death from complications of COVID-19 was reported on Tuesday, but the number of new confirmed cases of the disease dropped to just 25.

It was the first coronavirus-related death reported in Benton and Franklin counties in eight days.

The relatively encouraging report on the first day of September followed encouraging trends reported in August, with significantly fewer cases and deaths than the month before.

The Benton Franklin Health District reported 17 deaths from complications of COVID-19 in August, down from 37 in July.

July ended with 6,715 cases reported in the Tri-Cities area, including 3,344 from that month.

August ended with 8,103 confirmed cases, with 1,388 of the cases reported that month.

At the end of July, 59 patients were being treated in local hospitals for COVID-19, down from 81 a month earlier.

That dropped to 34 patients being treated for COVID-19 in the Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals at the end of August.

New cases, death

On Tuesday, the health district reported the death of a Benton County woman in her 60s who had underlying health conditions.

Her death brings the total for the two counties since the start of the pandemic to 157, including 45 in Franklin County and 112 in Benton County.

Benton County has just over twice as many people as Franklin County and also a larger percentage of elderly residents.

The new cases reported on Tuesday based on positive test results included nine in Benton County and 16 in Franklin County.

They compare to an average of about 33 new cases reported each of the prior three days.

The number of positive test results often builds through the week to peak on Friday. On the past Friday 70 new cases were reported in the two counties.

The new case count for the past two weeks in Benton county is now 282, down from 312 the previous two-week period.

In Franklin County the new case count for the past two weeks is 208, down from 355 the previous two-week period.

School reopening targets

The Washington state Department of Health is not approving counties to move to new full phases of reopening under its Safe Start plan, instead focusing on getting new cases in many counties down to fewer than 75 per 100,000 residents to allow some limited in-class learning.

The Benton County goal based on its population to start reopening schools is to drop to 150 cases total over two weeks. Franklin County’s goal is about 72 cases over two weeks.

Local public health officials are warning that group gatherings — beyond the allowed five nonhousehold members — over the Labor Day weekend could set back the Tri-Cities on its progress.

They have seen spikes in cases after other holidays during the pandemic, including Mother’s Day and Memorial Day.

The number of people hospitalized locally for treatment of COVID-19 on the first day of September was 33, which is in line with numbers below 40 reported since early August.

Those patients — which included people with positive test results and those with test results pending — accounted for about 11% of patients in hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser.

Washington state

The Washington State Department of Health on Monday reported 315 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 15 deaths.

The number of deaths represents data from Saturday-Monday. The state is now reporting death counts generated over the weekend in Monday’s and Tuesday’s counts.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 74,635 cases and 1,915 deaths.

Thirty-one people with confirmed COVID-19 cases were admitted to Washington state hospitals on Aug. 12, 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 19,643 cases and 723 deaths. Yakima County is second, with 10,948 cases and 242 deaths. Pierce is third with cases at 6,794.

They are followed by Snohomish and Spokane counties and then Benton and Franklin counties with the sixth and seventh highest number of cases and deaths in the state, according to state data.

On Friday, Washington had a 986-per-100,000-people case rate. The national rate is 1,822 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Louisiana has the highest rate in the United States at 3,188. Vermont is lowest at 259.

There had been more than 6 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 183,431 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Monday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 848,000 people have died from the disease worldwide.

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

This story was originally published September 1, 2020 at 1:37 PM.