State health officials call out Tri-Cities. COVID cases no longer dropping

The sharp drop in COVID-19 cases in Benton and Franklin counties seen through much of the summer has hit a plateau, says the Washington state Department of Health.

It called out the two counties in its weekly update Friday, along with Clark, Pierce and Spokane counties, for not sustaining progress in reducing the number of new COVID cases.

“In parts of the state, declines have stagnated, suggesting we may need to redouble efforts to encourage risk-reducing behaviors,” said the Department of Health as the statewide COVID situation report was released late Friday.

The trend is concerning as the COVID-19 risk is likely to increase into the fall, the Department of Health said.

People will begin to spend more time indoors and some schools are preparing to return more students to in-person instruction this fall, the report said.

Even slight increases in transmission due to those changes could result in exponential growth of new cases, warned the state Department of Health.

The Tri-Cities already had a tough week of COVID-19, with five deaths announced, up from three deaths the week before.

The Benton Franklin Health District releases new death and case information only on weekdays.

The number of known cases increased by 213 in a week, with 126 new confirmed cases in Benton County and 87 new confirmed cases in Franklin County. Benton County has a little over twice as many people as Franklin County.

The rolling two-week number of new cases for Benton County was 210 this week, up from 158 a week earlier on Friday, Sept. 18.

Franklin County’s rolling two week total of new cases is 150, up from the 114 a week ago.

Local public health officials had said an increase in cases over the past week was possible, in part because some people may have delayed getting tested during much of the previous week when smoke choked the Tri-Cities. The free drive-thru testing site at the HAPO Center in Pasco was temporarily closed.

Public health officials also had been watching for a possible spike in cases after the Labor Day holiday weekend.

Despite the concern over the flattening in the drop of cases, cases are still down substantially from early July when the case count was more than 200 new cases on a single day.

School reopening

The latest case rate that the Washington state Department of Health considers confirmed, rather than preliminary, is for the two weeks through Sept. 14 and based on when people became ill.

For Benton County the case rate is 92 new cases in two weeks per 100,000 people. In Franklin County it is 177 new cases over two weeks per 100,000 people.

The Washington state Department of Health has set a goal of fewer than 75 cases in two weeks per 100,000 for schools to allow more students to return to at least some in-person classes.

Collectively making small improvements as the weather cools can still decrease transmission of the coronavirus enough to allow more public schools to reopen, said the Washington state Department of Health.

“If you gather inside with people outside your household, it’s critical to keep the group as small as possible,” said Dr. Kathy Lofy, the state health officer.

“Limit the length of time you spend together and the number of gatherings you have,” she said. “Everyone should wear face coverings and stay at least six feet apart. Opening windows can also improve ventilation, even if it means wearing extra layers to stay warm.”

In Benton and Franklin counties gatherings remain limited to five nonhousehold members.

Tri-Cities new cases

On Friday the Benton Franklin Health District reported 24 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the two-county area and no new deaths.

New cases were down from a spike to 68 new cases on Wednesday and 30 cases on Thursday.

The new cases announced Friday included 11 in Benton County, bringing its total case count to 4,511. Franklin County had 13 new cases for a total of 4,242 since the start of the pandemic.

Since the pandemic started, 168 people in Benton and Franklin counties have died, including 115 from Benton County and 53 from Franklin County.

The number of people being treated for infections with the coronavirus in Benton and Franklin county hospitals was last reported on Wednesday.

Then 26 people were being treated for COVID, accounting for about 9% of patients in hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser. That’s down from 89 people being treated in local hospitals for COVID in late June.

Washington state

The Washington State Department of Health on Friday reported 988 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 20 deaths.

Of Friday’s cases, 486 come from Clark County, DOH said.

“These new cases are a result of a recently identified backlog that is in the process of being resolved,” DOH said on its website.

The U.S. passed the 7 million mark for total number of COVID-19 cases on Friday.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 85,226 cases and 2,100 deaths, up from 84,238 cases and 2,080 deaths Thursday. Washington’s population is estimated at about 7.6 million, according to U.S. Census figures from July 2019.

Twenty people with confirmed COVID-19 cases were admitted to Washington state hospitals on Sep. 6, 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 21,866 cases and 768 deaths. Yakima County is second, with 11,347 cases and 258 deaths. Pierce is third with cases at 7,788 and 200 deaths.

Even with the new cases, Clark County, home to Vancouver, still has fewer cases than Benton or Franklin counties.

Benton and Franklin counties rank sixth and seventh for new cases, following Snohomish and Spokane counties. Clark County ranks eighth.

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

On Friday, Washington had a 1,118-per-100,000-people case rate. The national rate is 2,103, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Louisiana has the highest rate in the United States at 3,529. Vermont is lowest at 276.

There had been more than 7 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 203,615 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Friday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The United States has the highest number of reported cases and deaths of any nation, although some countries have a higher rate based on population. More than 987,000 people have died from the disease worldwide. Global cases exceed 32 million.

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

This story was originally published September 26, 2020 at 1:55 PM.