Benton COVID infection rates outpacing Franklin County. WA sets new daily record

The COVID new case rate now tops 400 in both Benton and Franklin counties for cases per 100,000 people over two weeks.

The new case rate numbers were released shortly before the Washington state Department of Health announced that the daily number of new cases reported Friday statewide was more than 350 higher than any previous day.

Benton County’s case rate is now higher than Franklin County’s rate, with Benton at 411 cases per 100,000 over two weeks and Franklin County’s rate at 405.

Just two months ago it looked likely that Benton County’s case rate would drop to 75, but that was before a sharp rise in new cases.

The case rate data reported on Friday was compiled through Nov. 6, with a lag time as cases are backdated to when people first started showing symptoms, when possible.

The state Department of Health set 75 cases per 100,000 people over two weeks as the number at which reopening K-12 schools is considered high risk.

However, Dr. Amy Person, the health officer for Benton and Franklin counties, has said that some limited school reopening is possible at higher case rates if COVID safety and sanitation guidelines are strictly followed.

COVID death

The second local death of the week from complications of COVID-19 was reported on Friday.

A Benton County man in his 80s died. He was at risk of a severe case of COVID because of his age, but had no know underlying health conditions that have been linked to severe cases.

His death brings total deaths of local residents due to the coronavirus to 193, including 130 residents of Benton County and 63 residents of Franklin County.

Testing influences cases

The number of new cases reported on Friday for the two counties did drop sharply to the lowest daily count of the month to date.

The local health district does not update case numbers on the weekend.

After new daily cases averaged 132 over the past two days in the Tri-Cities area, the number of new cases reported Friday dropped to 44.

Reports are based on positive COVID test results reported to the Benton Franklin Health District.

It puts the average number of cases for the week at 122 per day.

That compares to an average of 82 new cases per day last week and 42 a day the week before that. Local cases are reported on a weekly schedule from the weekend through Friday.

The lower new case numbers reported Friday — 30 in Benton County and 14 in Franklin County — likely are due in large part to both free drive-thru testing sites in Pasco being closed on Veterans Day.

Wednesday is one of two days a week the site near the Columbia Basin College campus is closed and the Washington National Guard members who staff the HAPO Center site had Veterans Day off.

More than 1,100 tests were done when the two sites opened on Thursday, said Kathleen Clary-Cooke, spokeswoman for the Benton Franklin Health District.

The site on Argent Road by CBC did a record collection of 840 samples for testing and the HAPO site collected 285 samples. It is too soon for those test results to be completed and reported to the health district.

On Friday the HAPO site closed early because of the wind, but the site near CBC remained open.

Hospital patients

Public health officials have been watching hospital data closely, fearing that they may see more COVID patients due to the overall increase in cases this month.

On Friday 33 patients were being treated for COVID, or suspected COVID with test results pending, at local hospitals. That’s in line with number seen over the past two weeks.

They accounted for about 9% of all patients at hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals.

COVID and holidays

Public health officials suspected there could be a winter spike in COVID cases.

“Unfortunately it is showing up a little earlier than we had wished for,” said Dr. Amy Person in an interview for the Columbia Basin Badger Club and the Benton Franklin Community Health Alliance.

“It seems like Halloween was the holiday that triggered a lot of transmission,” she said.

With Thanksgiving less than two weeks away, people need to think about what they are prepared to do to keep their families safe, she said.

People are weary of the steps needed to keep the coronavirus from spreading, she said.

But steps like wearing masks, maintaining six feet of space from nonhousehold members and staying home when sick do work to limit the spread of the virus, she said.

Washington state

The Washington state Department of Health reported 2,142 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 12 deaths on Friday. The case number is a record high for the state. The previous record of 1,770 was set on Nov. 7.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 125,498 cases and 2,519 deaths, up from 123,356 cases and 2,507 deaths Thursday. Washington’s population is estimated at about 7.6 million, according to U.S. Census figures from July 2019.

Thirty-six people with confirmed COVID-19 cases were admitted to Washington state hospitals on Oct. 25, the most recent date with complete data. Average daily hospitalizations peaked in early April at 78.

On Nov. 2, the most recent date with complete data, a record high 27,796 specimens were collected statewide, with 5.7% testing positive. The average positive test rate for the seven days prior was 5.3%. More than 2.7 million tests have been conducted in Washington.

In Benton and Franklin counties 14% of tests were positive from Oct. 26 to Nov. 1, the most recent period with complete data.

King County continues to have the highest number of cases in Washington, with 33,043 cases and 836 deaths. Pierce County is second, with 12,547 cases and 247 deaths, according to the state’s tally. Yakima County is third with 12,354 cases and 283 deaths.

Spokane and Snohomish rank fourth and fifth in cases, followed by Benton, Clark and then Franklin counties.

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

For the past seven days, Washington had a case rate of 20.5 per 100,000 people. The national rate for the same period is 41.5 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. North Dakota has the highest rate in the United States, at 169.2 Hawaii is the lowest, at 7.

There have been more than 10.6 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 243,466 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Friday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has the highest number of reported cases and deaths of any nation, although some countries have higher rates based on population.

More than 1.3 million people have died from the disease worldwide. Global cases exceed 53 million.

This story was originally published November 13, 2020 at 2:04 PM.