‘Taken too soon.’ Tri-Cities area COVID deaths climb to 199

The Benton Franklin Health District announced 130 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and one recent death on Tuesday.

The new cases announced Tuesday were a drop from the 192 cases on average for the past five days. The average number of cases announced for the past four days now is about 177 per day.

That compares to the average number of cases per day of 206 for last week leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday. Cases typically are announced from the weekend through Friday.

In the four weeks before that average daily cases had been steadily increasing, with cases those weeks averaging 163, 122, 82 and 42 cases per day.

COVID death

The Benton Franklin Health District confirmed the death from complications of COVID-19 of a Tri-Cities teen on Tuesday, as reported Monday by the Benton County coroner.

The Kennewick girl brought the tally of deaths of local residents from the coronavirus to 199, including 135 in Benton County and 64 in Franklin County.

She was the first person under 20 to die from the disease in the Tri-Cities and the third reported in the state.

The 15-year-old, who did not attend school, had disabilities that put her at risk of a severe case of the disease.

“Every life ending too soon from complications from COVID-19 is tragic,” said Dr. Person, health officer for Benton and Franklin counties. “When the life is a young person, it become especially difficult for friends, relatives and for our community as we acknowledge the serious health issues this novel disease causes.”

A very low number of serious complications from COVID-19 in children and young adults has been reported, she said.

“However, it is imperative to continue to treat every case of COVID-19 seriously as it impacts everyone differently,” she said. “Every death reported is an individual whose life has taken too soon. We must not become complacent by letting people become statistics.”

She also pointed out that individual actions by local residents contribute to how the coronavirus spreads and who gets it.

“We all have an important role to play in not only protecting ourselves, but in protecting everyone that may be affected by our actions,” she said.

Steps such as wearing a face covering when around nonhousehold members, physically distancing and staying home when sick reduces the spread of coronavirus.

“These measures are instrumental in protecting our community, preserving our health care system and minimizing lives lost to complications from COVID-19,” she said.

The health district confirms COVID-19-caused deaths by checking death certificates.

The district considers a death caused by COVID-19 if the viral infection is a contributing factor toward the death. It is not counted as a COVID-19 death if the person had the infection when they died, but it did not contribute to the death.

In May and June, two Franklin County children were diagnosed with the very uncommon, but serious, multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C, which has been linked to the coronavirus.

A diagnosis requires a recent positive test for COVID-19, fever and inflammation of organs — such as heart or lungs — with no other plausible diagnosis for symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Parents are advised to watch for fever or headache, abdominal pain with or without diarrhea, fatigue and respiratory symptoms such as shortness of breath, said Dr. John McGuire, chief of the Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at Seattle Children’s Hospital.

Cases and hospitalizations

The new confirmed cases announced on Tuesday included 74 in Benton County for a total of 8,251 there since the start of the pandemic.

Franklin County had 56 new known cases for a total of 6,619. Together the two counties have had 14,870 confirmed cases.

Franklin County has had 1,130 new cases per 100,000 people over the two weeks through Nov. 24, the most recent case rate available based on when people became ill or were tested. That amounts to more than 1% of residents in the county testing positive over the two weeks.

Benton County has had 780 new cases per 100,000 over the same two week period. It is approaching twice the case rate from the earlier peak of the pandemic this summer.

Franklin County which had a higher case rate peak in the summer has only recently exceeded its former peak.

Local hospitals were treating 55 patients for COVID-19, the health district said on Tuesday. That’s up two from the day before and compares to 44 a week ago.

The 55 patients being treated for COVID on Monday accounted for about 15% of all patients in hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser.

The state goal is fewer than 10% of hospital patients being treated for COVID to ensure adequate capacity.

Washington state

The Washington State Department of Health on Monday reported 2,319 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 71 new deaths.

The death count also covers the weekend, as the department does not report deaths on weekends.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 165,019 cases and 2,774 deaths, up from 162,700 cases and 2,703 deaths on Sunday.

King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 44,348 cases and 881 deaths. Pierce is second in cases with 17,164 and Yakima is second in deaths with 297, according to the state agency.

Spokane County has the third most cases, followed by Snohomish, Yakima, Clark, Benton and Franklin, based on the latest state data complete for all counties. If Benton and Franklin counties were considered together they would have the fourth most cases.

All counties in Washington have had cases, but five have had fewer than 100 cases. They include Columbia County with 38 cases.

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

This story was originally published December 1, 2020 at 1:49 PM.