New COVID cases reported in Tri-Cities area take a big jump. But no new deaths

The local health district reported a large increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Tri-Cities area on Wednesday.

There were 68 new positive test results reported to the Benton Franklin Health District, up from 26 reported Tuesday and a daily average of 22 new cases for the weekend through Monday.

The jump was not entirely unexpected, although local public health officials are investigating the reason for the increase.

It is looking into several possibilities.

One is that the heavy blanket of smoke over the Tri-Cities last week had people spending more time indoors, where it is easier for the coronavirus to spread among people.

In addition there could be a surge of recent testing as the drive-thru testing site at the HAPO Center in Pasco was closed for several days last week because of the poor air quality.

The Benton Franklin Health District also has been looking for a possible increase in new cases this week because of the Labor Day holiday weekend.

Local cases increased a couple of weeks after other holidays this year as people gathered with family and friends and in large groups.

There is a lag in cases reported as people who are exposed develop symptoms, get tested, the results become available and local health officials are notified.

Tri-Cities deaths, cases

There were no additional deaths due to complications of COVID-19 reported in the Tri-Cities area on Wednesday.

With two new deaths announced on Tuesday, the total is 165.

Health officials say 114 from Benton County have died and 51 from Franklin County.

The number of deaths was updated on Wednesday to show that one death originally reported as a Benton County resident was in fact a Franklin County resident.

On Tuesday, the U.S. death toll passed the 200,000 mark — a number roughly equivalent to the population of Salt Lake City.

The new local cases reported on Wednesday included 46 in Benton County and 22 in Franklin County.

They bring the total cases confirmed through positive test results since the start of the pandemic to 4,478 in Benton County and 4,221 in Franklin County, or 8,699 for the bicounty area.

The new cases reported Wednesday raise the rolling number of total confirmed cases in the past two weeks in Benton County from 190 on Tuesday to 208 on Wednesday. Franklin County’s two-week tally increased from 151 Tuesday to 153 on Wednesday.

The number of people being treated in area hospitals for COVID-19 dropped to 27 on Wednesday, down from 34 reported on Monday. Information was not available for Tuesday.

The number of patients in Benton and Franklin county hospitals being treated for COVID was as high as 89 in late June, before transmission of the disease in the both counties began to drop in early July.

The 27 COVID patients on Wednesday accounted for just a little over 8% of total patients in hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser.

Washington state

After reporting errors caused the Washington state Department of Health to retract data on Monday, the agency reported new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths on Tuesday.

Statewide totals Tuesday evening from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 83,193 cases and 2,070 deaths. Cases stood at 82,548 on Sunday and deaths were at 2,037. Those were the last confirmed numbers before Monday’s data reporting errors.

King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 21,559 cases and 757 deaths. Yakima County is second, with 11,301 cases and 257 deaths. Pierce is third with cases at 7,655 and 196 deaths

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

All counties in Washington have cases. Eleven counties have case counts of fewer than 100.

On Tuesday, Washington had a 1,099-per-100,000-people case rate. The national rate is 2,063, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Louisiana has the highest rate in the United States at 3,487. Vermont is lowest at 275.

There had been more than 6.8 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 200,724 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Tuesday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The United States has the highest number of reported cases and deaths of any nation, although some other countries have higher death rates based on population. More than 968,000 people have died from the disease worldwide. Global cases exceed 31 million.

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

This story was originally published September 23, 2020 at 1:44 PM.