Tri-Cities COVID cases continue week-over-week increases. Deaths at 191

The Tri-Cities has 61 more confirmed cases of COVID-19, the Benton Franklin Health District said on Friday.

The number of new confirmed cases reported each day through the week has been dropping since 112 new cases were announced on Tuesday.

But the average daily case count for the week is still up from recent weeks at 82 new cases per day.

That’s up from an average of 51 new COVID cases per day last week and an average of 42 new daily cases the previous week. Local cases are reported on a weekly schedule from the weekend through Friday.

Cases also are increasing statewide, with the Washington state Department of Health announcing the largest number of new cases for a single day since the start of the pandemic

The new Tri-Cities-area cases announced on Friday include 46 in Benton County and 15 in Franklin County, as new case counts have been rising somewhat faster in Benton than in Franklin County.

This week Benton County has had 401 new confirmed cases and Franklin County has had 176 new cases. Benton County has a little more than twice as many people as Franklin County.

Benton County cases since the start of the pandemic total 5,692 and Franklin County cases total 5,061.

No new deaths from complications of COVID-19 were reported on Friday, by the Benton Franklin Health District. But two Tri-Cities area deaths were reported over the last week.

Deaths since the start of the pandemic in the Tri-Cities area now total 191, including 128 people in Benton County and 63 in Franklin County.

The number of patients been treated for COVID-19 at local hospitals dropped below 30 on Friday to 27. Numbers had been in the 30s all but one day since Oct. 28.

The 27 patients being treated for COVID amounted to 8% of all patients in the hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser.

The local health district does not update case numbers and hospitalizations or announce COVID deaths on the weekend.

Tri-Cities case rates

Case rates for Benton and Franklin counties are increasing even as rates were already were far above what the Washington state Department of Health considers high risk for school reopening — 75 or more cases per 100,0000 over two weeks.

The latest case rate for Benton County confirmed by the Washington state Department of Health is 190 cases per 100,000 over the two weeks ending Oct. 26.

But preliminary data shows that will increase to 291 for the two weeks ending Nov. 2.

Positive test results are backdated to the date when symptoms first appeared for the state’s calculation of the confirmed case rate, causing a lag time in results.

The preliminary data puts the case rate at close to the rate reported for the two weeks ending Aug. 4, as a steep drop in daily case rates was continuing then.

However, it is still below the peak rate of 425 cases per 100,000 over two weeks in early July.

For Franklin County the latest case rate confirmed by the state is 287 cases per 100,000 over the two weeks ending Oct. 26.

It’s case rate also is going up, with preliminary data showing that the case rate will reach 333 per 100,000 people over the two weeks ending Nov. 2.

That’s the highest case rates have been since mid August, but well below the peak case rate of 918 cases per 100,000 people over two weeks seen in early July.

Dr. Amy Person, health officer for the Benton Franklin Health District, has not changed her recommendation that schools partially reopen, saying that schools elsewhere that follow strict preventive measures have returned to some in-class learning without major COVID outbreaks.

The Washington state Department of Health said this week, based on a new report by the Institute for Disease Modeling, that both reducing new case rates and strict protective measures in schools are important to reopen K-12 schools safely.

Using King County as a sample school area, the study found that without safety measure up to 45% of teachers and staff and 33% of students could become infected in the first three months of school.

But measures such as wearing masks reduce the risk to less than 2%, even with a full schedule of five days of in-person classes, the study found.

Washington state

The Washington State Department of Health on Friday reported 1,691 new COVID-19 cases and eight new deaths. It surpasses the previous daily case high of 1,469, which was set just two days prior, on Wednesday this week.

The Washington State Department of Health on Thursday reported 1,070 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 15 new deaths.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus were at 114,241 cases and 2,439 deaths on Friday, up from 112,550 cases and 2,431 deaths on Thursday.

King County continues to have the highest case numbers in Washington, with 29,832 cases and 822 deaths. Yakima County is second, with 12,139 cases and 280 deaths. Pierce is third with cases at 11,214 and 234 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 Wahkiakum the only one with fewer than 20 cases after Columbia County reached 22 cases this week.

This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 1:44 PM.