Youngest of 14 newly announced Tri-Cities COVID victims was in his 40s

The 14 deaths from complications of COVID-19 announced on Friday by the Benton Franklin Health District included the fourth Tri-Citian in their 40s to die from the virus.

After an audit of deaths since the start of the pandemic, the Benton Franklin Health District announced it had missed 14 COVID deaths.

It brought the number of Tri-Cities area residents who have died from virus complications to 185. They include 124 in Benton County and 61 in Franklin County.

In addition to the man in his 40s, the newly announced deaths included two people in their 50s. Age is not considered a risk factor for a serious case of COVID-19 until people are in their 60s.

There have now been four people in the two counties who died in their 40s and 14 in their 50s. The update shows another 31 were in their 60s, 56 people in their 70s, and 80 victims who were 80 or older.

Having underlying health conditions, such as heart disease, lung disease, diabetes or obesity also creates a risk of a severe case of COVID-19, and all but three of the recently announced deaths were in people with known underlying health issues.

The Benton Franklin Health District has said that that about 41,000 people in the two communities are 65 or older, 34% of residents are obese, 12% have diabetes and 11% have asthma.

Nationwide about 40% of residents have at least one of the underlying health conditions that have been linked to a risk of a severe case of COVID, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Those who died

The newly announced deaths in the Tri-Cities area were split evenly between the two counties.

They include:

▪ A Benton County woman in her 90s with underlying health conditions.

▪ A Franklin County woman in her 90s with no health problems.

▪ A Franklin County man in his 80s with underlying health issues.

▪ Two Benton County men in their 80s, both with other health conditions.

▪ Two Franklin County men and one woman in their 70s, all with underlying health conditions.

▪ A Benton County woman in her 60s with no known health problems.

▪ A Franklin County man and woman in their 60s, both with underlying health issues.

▪ A Benton County man and a woman in their 50s with health conditions.

▪ A Benton County man in his 40s with underlying health troubles.

Deaths audit

The 14 deaths, between July 17 and Sept. 18, were discovered in an audit by the local health district of deaths in the Tri-Cities.

Four of the deaths were missed because residents of Benton and Franklin counties were in other counties when they died, and the local health district was not notified.

The other 10 were just missed during a hectic two-month period at the health district, with some of its staff out and other staff reassigned to cover other duties.

Initially, the audit of all deaths back to the start of the pandemic identified 30 more local residents who had positive test results for COVID-19 and had died.

As they do with all deaths, local health officials took a close look at their death certificates and determined that the coronavirus was the direct cause of death for 14 of them, said Nikki Ostergaard, spokeswoman for the Benton Franklin Health District.

The audit was prompted by a closer look at workers at Twin City Foods in Pasco who died of COVID-19.

The local health district confirmed two workers there died. The company says there is not information to link the infection of those employees to their work at the plant.

One of the Twin Foods employees who died was a worker who was currently living in Benton County, but his family listed his home in Texas for the death certificate so he had not been included in local death stats. The worker is among the 14 deaths reported by the local health district on Friday.

The health district checked into a third death because the person had a connection to Twin City Foods workers, but found his death had already been reported in the July deaths of workers at Tyson Fresh Meats south of Pasco.

Four residents of Benton and Franklin counties believed to have worked at the larger Tyson beef packing plant in Wallula also have died. It is unknown whether they were infected on or off the job.

“The Benton Franklin Health District recognizes the importance of accuracy and transparency in reporting data to our community and stakeholders and regrets the information was missed,” Ostergaard said.

“Each one of these numbers is a person in our community and it is important we not only provide all information, but recognize family members are grieving the loss of these individuals,” she said.

The health district has a new process in place to perform regular death audits now and to make sure local deaths due to COVID-19 are not missed, she said.

Tri-Cities COVID cases

The Benton Franklin Health District reported 29 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Friday, a number in line with many days in the past two weeks before a spike in cases to 37 cases reported Thursday and 41 reported Friday.

They bring total cases in Benton County since the start of the pandemic to 4,780 and total cases in Franklin County to 4,466, for a combined total of 9,246 cases.

The Washington state Department of Health’s confirmed new case rate for Benton County increased to 109 per 100,000 people over the two week period ending Sept. 28. Two days earlier it had been reported at 102.

It’s confirmed new case rate for Franklin County increased to 192 per 100,000 over the same two weeks. Two days earlier the rate was reported at 176.

The Washington state Department of Health has set rates at 75 or more per 100,000 over two weeks as high risk for school reopening.

But Dr. Amy Person, health officer for Benton and Franklin counties, says the recent experiences of other schools nationally and internationally shows that schools could partially reopen at higher rates with only limited spread of the coronavirus if safety protocols are followed.

Washington state

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 92,560 cases and 2,190 deaths, up from 91,918 cases and 2,183 deaths Thursday. Washington’s population is estimated at about 7.6 million, according to U.S. Census figures from July 2019.

Twenty-five people with confirmed COVID-19 cases were admitted to Washington state hospitals on Sept. 20, the most recent date with complete data. Average daily hospitalizations peaked in early April at 78.

King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 23,712 cases and 784 deaths. Yakima County is second, with 11,552 cases and 263 deaths. Pierce is third with cases at 8,602 and 210 deaths, according to the state’s tally.

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

All counties in Washington have cases. Ten counties have case counts of fewer than 100, including Columbia County with 14 known cases.

On Friday, Washington had a 1,220-per-100,000-people case rate. The national rate is 2,292, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Louisiana has the highest rate in the United States at 3,716. Vermont is lowest at 294.

There had been more than 7.6 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 213,532 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 1 million people have died from the disease worldwide. Global cases exceed 36 million.

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

This story was originally published October 10, 2020 at 1:08 PM.