No decline in Tri-Cities COVID cases, but hospitals treating far fewer patients

The Benton Franklin Health District reported 93 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Monday, which included the weekend.

The average number of cases for each of the three days was 31 per day, which was higher than the report from a week ago. Last Monday’s Labor Day weekend average was 17 cases per day.

There were no new deaths to report and the number of patients hospitalized locally for treatment of COVID-19 dropped to just 22, the lowest in months.

The patients hospitalized locally for COVID-19 was down from months of patients numbering in the 30s or more and as many as 89 in late June.

On Friday 32 people were being treated at local hospitals for COVID-19.

The 22 patients being treated for COVID on Monday accounted for just 6.5% of patients in hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser.

HAPO Center testing

No testing will be done on Tuesday at the drive-thru testing site at the HAPO Center in Pasco.

The site is being closed for the day to protect Washington National Guard members doing the testing from the hazardous air quality.

However, testing will be available at many clinics in the Tri-Cities. The local health district has details posted at bit.ly/TCtestingsites.

COVID cases, deaths

The new case numbers released Monday put Benton County at 173 new cases over the past two weeks as it works to get down to about 75 cases so public schools can open more.

It had 44 cases reported since cases were last released on Friday for a total of 4,338 cases since the start of the pandemic.

Franklin County has had 180 cases reported over the past two weeks and needs to get down to about 72 cases to allow a limited reopening of public schools.

It has had 49 more cases since the previous report on Friday for a total of 4,131 cases since the start of the pandemic.

The total number of deaths from infection with the coronavirus in Benton and Franklin counties stands at 160. Fifteen of those who have died were younger than 60.

However, those most likely to test positive for COVID-19 are those in their 20s.

The number of Benton County residents in their 20s with confirmed COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic is 1,040 and in Franklin County, with a little less than half as many people, it is 873.

For both counties the age groups next most likely to test positive for COVID-19 are those in their 30s, followed by those in their 40s and 50s.

Washington state

The Washington State Department of Health reported 465 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Saturday and 350 cases on Sunday.

On Friday the state reported 544 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and six deaths.

The state does not report deaths on the weekend.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 79,826 cases and 1,991 deaths, up from 79,476 cases on Saturday.

King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 20,863 cases and 744 deaths. Yakima County is second, with 11,153 cases and 251 deaths. Pierce is third with cases at 7,307 and 185 deaths.

Benton and Franklin counties rank sixth and seventh for new cases, following Snohomish and Spokane counties.

All counties in Washington have cases. Wahkiakum is the only county with a case count fewer than 10.

Lauren Kirschman of The (Tacoma) News Tribune contributed to this report.

This story was originally published September 14, 2020 at 2:08 PM.