Bad Tri-Cities weekend for COVID. Cases reach new recent high

Newly confirmed COVID-19 cases continued to increase in the Tri-Cities area over the weekend, with an average of 81 daily new cases reported.

There were 243 cases reported on Monday by the Benton Franklin Health District for the past three days and one more recent death due to complications of COVID.

The local health district does not release information over the weekend, making it the first update since Friday.

The death was a Franklin County woman in her 60s with underlying health conditions that put her at risk of a severe case of COVID-19 in addition to her age.

It brings the total death count for the bicounty area to 190 since the start of the pandemic, including 128 residents lost in Benton County and 62 in Franklin County.

The average daily cases for the last three days appear to be the highest daily case count reported since August. Case counts were higher on many days in July and early August.

For example, 130 new COVID cases reported in the Tri-Cities area on July 29 and 104 new cases were reported on Aug. 4.

However, public health officials have cautioned that a single day’s report, like the one Monday, are less important than looking at trends over time.

Cases up in October

The number of reported deaths due to complications of COVID-19 in the Tri-Cities area dropped in October, even as the number of new cases was greater than in September.

“We are seeing that because we are seeing more cases now (that are) not in the oldest population, which is the highest risk,” said Dr. Amy Person, health officer for Benton and Franklin counties.

Most of the rise in cases has been in people from ages 20 to 59, she said. The risk for a severe case of COVID-19 that can lead to death increases once people are in their 60s or older.

Some of those younger people — generally working-age people — may still have other risk factors for a severe case of COVID and end up in the hospital, she said. Risk factors can include diabetes, obesity, heart disease and lung conditions, including asthma.

The number of people hospitalized locally for treatment of COVID-19 also trended upward in October.

The new cases in working-age people remains a concern because in other parts of the country, there has been a pattern of cases rising in younger people and then those cases spreading to older people at higher risk from infection, Dr. Person said.

She called hospitalization and death numbers lagging indicators, which public health officials are watching closely.

Earlier in the pandemic, the local health district was seeing some large outbreaks, including about 250 Tri-Cities area workers who worked at the Tyson Fresh Meats beef processing plant south of Pasco in Walla Walla County.

Four workers at the plant died of complications of COVID-19, although it is not known where they contracted the disease.

Now the local health district does not see large outbreaks, “but 50 examples of people spending time with other people without masking, maintaining distances,” Dr. Person said.

The Benton Franklin Health District also is not seeing as much increase in school-age children as in adults, Dr. Person said.

“So even though more schools are progressing to their hybrid models, so far that has not resulted in spikes in cases in school-age children,” she said.

Last month’s COVID stats

The Benton Franklin Health District reported 19 deaths due to COVID in October. However, 14 were caught in an audit of deaths that found 14 deaths from July 17 and Sept. 18 that had not been previously included in Tri-Cities area statistics.

That left just five recent COVID deaths reported in October, compared to 37 in July, 17 in August and 14 in July before the audit found 14 more.

In September about 850 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the Tri-Cities, or about 28 cases per day.

Numbers started to go up a couple weeks after the Labor Day holiday.

In October 1,260 new cases were reported through Oct. 30 or about 42 cases per day on average.

They included 707 new cases in Benton County reported in October, compared to 448 new cases for the county in September.

In Franklin County there were 553 new cases reported in October, compared with 404 in September.

The downward trend in the number of people hospitalized locally for treatment of COVID-19 also ended in October.

July ended with 59 patients being treated for COVID-19 in Benton and Franklin hospitals. That dropped to 34 at the end of August and then 19 at the end of September.

But on Oct. 30, the number of COVID patients in local hospitals was back to 33.

On Monday, the local health district reported 35 people hospitalized locally for treatment of COVID.

The accounted for 10% of all patients in hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser.

The total number of COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic totaled 5,543 in Benton County and 4,979 in Franklin County as of Monday.

Washington state

The Washington State Department of Health on Sunday reported 814 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and on Saturday reported 928 cases.

The department does not report deaths on weekends.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 108,315 cases and 2,366 deaths, up from 107,501 cases and 2,366 deaths on Saturday.

King County continues to have the highest case numbers in Washington, with 27,951 cases and 815 deaths. Yakima County is second, with 12,003 cases and 273 deaths. Pierce is third with cases at 10,514 and 227 deaths.

Benton and Franklin rank sixth and seventh for cases, following Spokane and Snohomish. If Benton and Franklin counties were considered together, they would rank fourth.

All counties in Washington have cases with just two with fewer than 20 — Columbia with 17 and Wahkiakum with 11.

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

This story was originally published November 2, 2020 at 2:23 PM.