COVID cases in the Tri-Cities top 9,000 after bad weekend for new cases

The number of COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic topped 9,000 in the Tri-Cities area on Monday after 129 more cases were confirmed.

The Benton Franklin Health District does not report new cases over the weekend, so the 129 cases reported Monday were for the past three days.

They averaged 43 a day, up from an average of about 32 a day for the previous week.

That was already an increase in cases from other recent weeks, which public health officials attributed to gatherings over Labor Day weekend contributing to the spread of the coronavirus.

Until the last few weeks, the number of new cases had been on a sharp decline since the start of July.

There were no new deaths report on Monday, leaving total deaths in the Tri-Cities area since the start of the pandemic at 171, including 117 residents of Benton County and 54 residents of Franklin County.

Total cases in the Tri-Cities since the start of the pandemic now total 9,106, including 4,705 in Benton County and 4,401 in Franklin County.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has placed a hold on counties moving to new phases of reopening after counties across the state saw their decline in case rates plateau or case rates increase after they were allowed to resume more activities and more businesses were allowed to reopen.

School reopening goals

The immediate goal for the Tri-Cities is to show new case rates low enough for public schools to allow many students to return to class in a hybrid learning model that still includes some at-home instruction.

The latest confirmed data from the Washington state Department of Health shows 98 new cases per 100,000 people over two weeks through Sept. 21 in Benton County.

Franklin County had 160 new cases per 100,000 people over the two weeks through Sept. 21.

Data for more recent days is considered incomplete because newly reported cases are backdated to the day when symptoms first appeared.

The state Department of Health wants to see fewer than 75 cases per 100,000 over two weeks.

But Dr. Amy Person, health officer at the Benton Franklin Health District, has said that a range of 90 to 100 cases per 100,000 over two weeks has been shown to be adequate for schools to partially reopen without an increase in the spread of the coronavirus.

Washington state

The Washington State Department of Health on Saturday reported 609 and on Sunday reported 455 new confirmed cases of COVID-19.

The department does not report deaths on weekends.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 89,874 cases and 2,142 deaths, up from 89,419 cases on Saturday.

King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 23,022 cases and 767 deaths. Yakima County is second, with 11,494 cases and 262 deaths. Pierce is third with cases at 8,294 and 207 deaths.

Snohomish and Spokane rank fourth and fifth for cases, followed by Benton and Franklin counties.

All counties in Washington have cases, with Wahkiakum having the fewest at seven, followed by Columbia and Garfield with 14 each.

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

This story was originally published October 5, 2020 at 1:55 PM.