COVID cases drop, but Tri-Cities reports 1st death in a week

After several days without any reported deaths, the Benton Franklin Health District reported Thursday that a woman in her 60s has died from COVID-19.

The announcement comes at the same time the district saw a sharp daily drop in new cases in the two counties.

Health officials reported 30 new cases — 16 in Benton County and 14 in Franklin County.

That number is half of Wednesday’s total, which came in at 60.

The Benton County woman who died had no underlying health conditions, according to the health district.

The risk of a severe case of COVID-19 increases if people are 60 or older or have underlying health conditions, such as heart disease, lung disease, obesity or diabetes.

Total deaths since the start of the pandemic in Benton and Franklin counties now total 188. They include 127 Benton County residents who have died and 61 residents of Franklin County.

The local health district requires a positive test for COVID-19 and then checks the death certificate to be certain that COVID was the cause of death before including it in its tally of deaths.

Confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic total 9,801, including 5,085 in Benton County and 4,716 in Franklin County.

Of that total, 558 were reported in the last 14 days.

Twenty two patients were being treated for COVID-19 at local hospitals on Thursday, up one patient from the day before.

They account for just 6% of all patients at hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser.

Washington state

The Washington state Department of Health reported on Wednesday 724 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and four deaths.

Pierce County reported 104 cases Wednesday and no new deaths. Pierce County has a total of 185 deaths likely caused by COVID-19 as of Wednesday, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 99,874 cases and 2,286 deaths, up from 99,150 cases 2,282 deaths Tuesday. Washington’s population is estimated at about 7.6 million, according to U.S. Census figures from July 2019.

Nineteen people with confirmed COVID-19 cases were admitted to Washington state hospitals on Oct. 2, the most recent date with complete data. Average daily hospitalizations peaked in early April at 78.

On Oct. 9, the most recent date with complete data, 11,673 specimens were collected statewide, with 3.1% testing positive. The average positive test rate for the seven days prior was 3.3%. More than 2.2 million tests have been conducted in Washington.

The test numbers reflect only polymerase chain reaction tests, which are administered while the virus is presumably still active in the body.

King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 25,540 cases and 800 deaths. Yakima County is second, with 11,748 cases and 267 deaths. Pierce is third with cases at 9,482, according to the state’s tally.

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

For the past seven days, Washington had a case rate of 8.3-per-100,000-people. The national rate for the same period is 17.9 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. North Dakota has the highest rate in the United States at 98.1. Vermont is the lowest at 1.6.

There have been more than 8.3 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 221,862 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Wednesday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The United States has the highest number of reported cases and deaths of any nation. More than 1.1 million people have died from the disease worldwide. Global cases exceed 41 million.