Nearly 5% of Pasco and 3% of Kennewick has been infected with COVID. Statewide it’s 1%

The Tri-Cities area had another encouraging report on new cases of COVID-19 on Friday with just 23 cases reported and no new deaths.

However, its total case rate since the start of the pandemic remains high compared to the state of Washington as a whole.

On Thursday the Centers for Disease Control reported that Washington state has reached a rate of 1,000 out of every 100,000 people who had received a positive test result for the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.

That is 1% of all residents in the state known to have had COVID-19.

But in Pasco nearly 5% of people have had a positive test result since the start of the pandemic, according to data from the Benton Franklin Health District and U.S. Census population estimates for 2019.

In Kennewick, almost 3% of people have been infected at some point.

The percentage drops to 1.5% for Richland and 1.4% for West Richland.

Prosser has been particularly hard hit, with 6% of its population testing positive since the start of the pandemic.

New cases, hospitalizations

The 23 new cases reported by the Benton Franklin Health District on Friday for the two-county area were fewer than the 28 cases reported on Thursday, even though in many weeks the highest number of cases for a single day is reported on Friday.

The Friday report included 10 cases in Benton County for a total of 252 cases reported there over the last two weeks and 13 cases in Franklin County for a total of 203 cases over two weeks.

The daily case rates have dropped by more than 50% for the two counties since early July, but still need to drop further to allow the counties to meet state targets for a partial reopening of schools.

Benton County needs to get down to about 150 new cases total in two weeks, and Franklin County, with slightly fewer than half as many people, needs to get down to about 72 new cases total in two weeks.

Local deaths from complications of COVID-19 remain at 159 since the start of the pandemic, including 47 in Franklin County and 112 in Benton County.

The number of people hospitalized locally for treatment of COVID-19 on Friday was 41, down one from the day before. Before Thursday, the two counties had four weeks with the number of patients dropping into the 30s.

The 41 patients being treated for COVID-19 on Friday accounted for almost 13% of the patients in hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser.

The local health district does not release updated data on the weekend.

Washington state

The case rate of 1,000 cases per 100,000 people in Washington state compares with a national case rate of 1,857 as of late last week.

Louisiana has the highest rate in the United States at 3,235 per 100,000. Vermont is lowest at 261.

The Washington State Department of Health on Friday reported 479 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and eight deaths.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 76,335 cases and 1,953 deaths, up from 75,856 cases and 1,945 deaths on Thursday.

King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 20,022 cases and 735 deaths. Yakima County is second, with 11,007 cases and 243 deaths. Pierce is third with cases at 6,990 and 175 deaths.

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

Benton County has had 4,200 confirmed cases and Franklin County has had 4,007 confirmed cases.

There had been more than 6.1 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 186,790 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Friday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 865,000 people have died from the disease worldwide.

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

This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 3:29 PM.