New Tri-Cities COVID cases quadruple in less than a month. 2 more deaths reported

The Benton Franklin Health District reported 152 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and two recent deaths of Tri-Cities area residents on Tuesday.

The cases put the average daily cases for the week so far at 172 per day — four times the number a little less than a month ago.

It compares to 122 cases per day on average last week, 82 per day the previous week and 42 per day the week before that. Local cases are reported on a weekly schedule of the weekend through Friday.

Benton County has surpassed its July peak in cases to now have a higher average of daily cases over two weeks, according to data from the local health district.

Its most recent case rate, for the two weeks through Nov. 10, is 518 new cases per 100,000 residents.

Franklin counties is nearly as high at a rate of 493. However, its new daily cases remain below its earlier peak in July.

The two deaths from complications of COVID-19 reported on Tuesday were both Benton County residents in their 80s.

One was a woman with underlying health conditions that have been linked to severe cases of COVID-19, in addition to her age.

The other was a man without any known underlying health conditions of the types linked to severe cases.

They bring the number of deaths reported this month in the Tri-Cities area from complications of COVID-19 to six.

Since the start of the pandemic there have been 195 local deaths, including 132 residents of Benton County and 63 residents of Franklin County.

The new cases reported on Tuesday included 105 in Benton County for a total there of 6,722 since the start of the pandemic and 47 cases in Franklin County for a total of 5,576 there.

Total cases for both counties is 12,298, with no data kept on how many of those cases are active.

Hospital cases

The number of local hospital patients being treated for COVID-19 or awaiting test results was 36 on Tuesday.

Patient numbers have been in the 30s most days this month.

The 36 patients on Tuesday accounted for 9% of all patients in the Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals. It meets the state target of less than 10%.

However, about 84% of all licensed hospital beds in the bicounty area are being used, which exceeds the state target of hospital readiness of less than 80%.

High testing demand

Cars started to line up 45 minutes before the opening of the popular free drive-thru COVID testing site by Columbia Basin College in Pasco on Tuesday.

The site was designed to collect up to 500 test samples per day, but has been doing 600 to 700 a day with several days of more than 800, said Ben Shearer with the Pasco Fire Department. Fire department personnel are among those staffing the site.

Tri-Cities area residents, who have endured the pandemic locally since March, seem to be starting to understand that testing is the way that the community can find hot spots and halt the spread, he said.

Hot spots can be gatherings or work places where people, some without symptoms, may be infecting others.

Staffers at the testing site are hearing more people say they have been sent for testing by their employer, Shearer said.

“Employers seem to be taking a more aggressive approach,” he said.

In addition, new state orders further limiting business operations and gatherings have drawn fresh attention to the need to control the spread of infection.

Preregistration for the testing site may be done online, but on Monday all appointments for Tuesday were claimed by 1:30 p.m. and demand for preregistration was high again on Tuesday.

Preregistration is not required, but can shorten time spent at the testing site because information has already been provided.

However, it won’t shorten waits in sometimes congested traffic trying to get into the site at 3110 W. Argent Road, and large volumes of people wanting tests may cause even those people who have preregistered to have to wait past their appointment times.

Last week the decision was made to expand service at the site to seven days a week because of its popularity, due in part to test results available in one to three days. It is open 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., except some holidays.

The Washington National Guard operates a drive-thru testing site at the HAPO Center in Pasco, which is open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays.

More testing sites in Benton and Franklin counties, including clinics, are posted at bit.ly/Tri-CitiesTesting. Preregistration for the testing by the CBC campus also can be done through that site.

Washington state

The Washington state Department of Health reported 1,492 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 29 deaths on Monday.

The deaths represent the past three days as the department does not report those numbers on weekends.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 131,532 cases and 2,548 deaths, up from 130,040 cases Sunday and 2,519 deaths Friday. Washington’s population is estimated at about 7.6 million, according to U.S. Census figures from July 2019.

Hospitalizations of confirmed COVID-19 patients continue to climb with 49 people being admitted to Washington state hospitals on Oct. 28, the most recent date with complete data. Average daily hospitalizations peaked in early April at 78.

On Nov. 5, the most recent date with complete data, a record high 24,188 specimens were collected statewide, with 8.2% testing positive. The average positive test rate for the seven days prior was 6.6%.

In Benton and Franklin counties, about 16% of test results have been positive, according to data for Nov. 2-8.

In Benton and Franklin counties for Nov. 2-8 the positive test rate was 16%.

King County continues to have the highest case numbers in Washington, with 34,892 cases and 838 deaths. Pierce County is second, with 13,200 cases and 254 deaths, according to the state’s tally.

Yakima County has the second highest number of deaths at 289, but ranks third for cases with 12,563.

Next are Spokane and Snohomish counties, followed by Benton, Clark and Franklin counties. If Benton and Franklin counties were considered together, they would rank fifth for most cases behind Spokane County, according to the latest statewide data.

All counties in Washington have cases. Six counties have case counts of fewer than 100, including Columbia County with 25 cases.

For the past seven days, Washington had a case rate of 24.1 per 100,000 people. The national rate for the same period is 46.2 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. North Dakota has the highest rate in the United States, at 198.9 Hawaii is the lowest, at 5.5.

There have been more than 11.1 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 247,116 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Monday 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 a higher rate based on population.

More than 1.3 million people have died from the disease worldwide. Global cases exceed 54 million.

Craig Sailor of The (Tacoma) News Tribune contributed to this report.

This story was originally published November 17, 2020 at 1:56 PM.