Big jump in Tri-Cities COVID cases as weather turns colder
The Tri-Cities had 112 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported on Tuesday, even more than in the sharp increase over the weekend.
The new cases bring Franklin County’s total since the start of the pandemic to more than 5,000 and the total for Benton and Franklin counties together to more than 10,500, according to the Benton Franklin Health District.
New cases reported on Tuesday are similar to what the Tri-Cities was seeing on some days in late July and early August.
Over the past week ending Friday, daily new cases averaged 51 per day. That’s up from an average of 42 new cases a day the previous week.
Those numbers jumped to an average of 81 new cases a day for the prior three days.
And it puts the average daily cases reported since Friday in the Tri-Cities area at about 89 a day.
The increase in cases coincides with colder weather and more people staying indoors. The coronavirus can more easily be spread indoors, especially if ventilation is poor and people are not wearing masks and maintaining six feet of distance from nonhousehold members.
The new cases reported on Tuesday include 88 in Benton County and 24 in Franklin County.
Benton County now has had 5,528 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic and Franklin County has had 5,003 for a bicounty total of 10,531.
There were no new deaths reported on Tuesday by the Benton Franklin Health District.
The death toll for residents of the two counties since the start of the pandemic remains at 190.
The number of people hospitalized locally for COVID treatment increased on Tuesday to 39. A week earlier just 25 people were hospitalized locally for COVID treatment.
The 39 patients on Tuesday accounted for 11% of patients in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals.
School reopening
Case rates for Benton and Franklin counties are increasing above rates that already were far above what the Washington state Department of Health considers high risk for school reopening — 75 or more cases per 100,0000 population over two weeks.
The latest case rate for Benton County confirmed by the Washington state Department of Health is 163 cases per 100,000 over the two weeks ending Oct. 22.
But preliminary data shows that will increase to more than 200 in the coming days.
Positive test results are backdated to the date when symptoms first appeared for the confirmed case rate, causing a lag time in results.
Preliminary data shows the Benton County case rate will increase to as high as 202 cases per 100,000 over the two weeks ending Nov 1.
For Franklin County the latest case rate confirmed by the state is 260 cases per 100,000 over the two weeks ending Oct. 22.
It’s case rate also is going up, with preliminary data showing that the case rate will top 300 per 100,000 people over the two weeks ending Oct. 30.
Dr. Amy Person, health officer for the Benton Franklin Health District, has not retracted her recommendation that schools reopen, saying that schools elsewhere that follow strict preventive measures have returned to some in-class learning without major COVID outbreaks.
Washington state
The Washington State Department of Health on Monday reported 1,039 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 12 new deaths.
Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 109,354 cases and 2,378 deaths, up from 108,315 cases and 2,366 deaths on Sunday. The new deaths also cover the weekend, as the state does not report deaths on weekends.
King County continues to have the highest number of cases in Washington, with 28,223 cases and 817 deaths. Yakima County is second, with 12,036 cases and 275 deaths. Pierce is third with cases at 10,616 and 229 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.