Tri-Cities COVID cases continue to grow. Another death reported

The Benton Franklin Health District reported 119 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 over the past three days and one more death on Monday.

The local health district does not release data over the weekend.

The death of a Benton County woman in her 80s from complications of COVID brings total deaths in the Tri-Cities area since the start of the pandemic to 186.

The newly reported cases average 40 more each of the three days, compared to a daily average of 38 new cases per day the previous seven days and an average of 32 new cases a day the prior week.

The Tri-Cities area had a steep drop in new cases starting in July, but the drop has plateaued and cases even have risen a bit.

“This isn’t due to any outbreak or specific event, but what we are consistently hearing from our contact tracers is that people are taking risks,” said Dr. Amy Person, health officer for the Benton Franklin Health District, in an interview with the Columbia Basin Badger Club.

In some cases it is people who will wear a face covering part of the time but not all the time, such as an employee who wears a mask during group training but then takes it off during breaks because they are talking with friends, she said.

And as the Tri-Cities area opens up, more people are going to events like weddings and memorial services and not wearing masks because they are with family and friends.

Tri-Cities area contact tracers are not finding people with COVID-19 who wear their masks at all times outside their homes, are religious about social distancing and do not attend gatherings, she said.

“We have a lot of control over this disease” by following those steps, she said.

Tri-Cities cases, deaths

The cases reported on Monday included 54 in Benton County and 65 in Franklin County, which has a little fewer than half as many people.

Total cases for the two counties since the start of the pandemic are 9,365, which include 4,834 in Benton County and 4,531 in Franklin County.

Total deaths due to complications of COVID include 125 Benton County residents who have died and 61 in Franklin County.

The death that was reported on Monday was a woman who was at risk of a serious case of COVID-19, both because she was in her 80s and because she had underlying health conditions.

There were 22 patients being treated for COVID-19 in local hospitals on Monday, down from 28 hospitalized COVID patients on Friday.

They account for 7% of all patients at hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser.

School reopening data

The new case rate confirmed by the Washington state Department of Health per 100,000 people for the two weeks through Sept. 28 has climbed above 100 for Benton County and is approaching 200 for Franklin County.

New cases are backdated to the day symptoms appeared or a test was taken, which creates a lag time in confirmed case rates. Test samples must be analyzed, contact tracers must talk to the ill person and then information is relayed to state officials who add the data to an earlier date.

The confirmed Benton County rate is 109 new cases per 100,000 for the two weeks through Sept. 28 and the unconfirmed rate through Oct. 5 is higher at 132.

The confirmed Franklin County rate is 192 new cases per 100,000 for the same two weeks and the unconfirmed rate through Oct. 5 is 239 new cases.

The state Department of Health considers 75 or more new cases per 100,000 over two weeks as high risk for schools to reopen.

But Dr. Person said emerging evidence from where schools have reopened elsewhere shows that it may be possible to have as many as 200 new cases per 100,000 over two weeks without seeing major spread of the coronavirus among students and teachers if strict precautions are observed.

Washington state

Confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state have passed 93,000.

The Washington State Department of Health on Saturday reported 475 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 but reported no updated information on Sunday due to technical issues.

The department does not report deaths on weekends.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 93,035 cases and 2,190 deaths, up from 92,560 cases on Friday.

King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 23,805 cases and 784 deaths. Yakima County is second, with 11,566 cases and 263 deaths. Pierce is third with cases at 8,648 and 210 deaths.

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

All counties in Washington have cases, with only two counties -- Wahkiakum and Garfield -- having fewer cases than Columbia’s 14 confirmed cases.

Jon Manley of The (Tacoma) News Tribune contributed to this report.

This story was originally published October 12, 2020 at 1:48 PM.