5 more COVID deaths reported in Tri-Cities after jump in new cases

Five recent deaths of Tri-Cities area residents from complications of COVID-19 were announced Wednesday for the Benton Franklin Health District.

They bring the total deaths in Benton and Franklin counties attributed to coronavirus infections to 204 since the start of the pandemic.

The health district also announced 195 new confirmed cases of COVID, bringing total Tri-Cities area cases since the start of the pandemic to more than 15,000.

The most recent deaths included two Benton County women in their 90s, a Benton County and a Franklin County man in their 70s and a Benton County woman in her 60s.

All were at risk of a severe case of COVID-19 both because of their age and having certain underlying health conditions.

They bring county COVID death tallies to 139 in Benton County and 65 in Franklin County.

Public health officials have warned of an expected increase in COVID deaths following the rise in new cases over the past month.

The new confirmed COVID cases announced Wednesday were up from 130 announced the day before, which appeared to be a one-day dip. New confirmed cases have been close to 200 or higher for the rest of the past week.

The cases announced Wednesday puts the average number of daily cases this week at 180.

COVID cases

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.

The new cases announced Wednesday included 134 in Benton County and 61 in Franklin County.

The number of total Tri-Cities area confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic is now 15,065, including 8,385 in Benton County and 6,680 in Franklin County.

The new case rate in Benton County hit 800 new cases per 100,000 people over the two weeks ending Nov. 25. It is close to twice the rate of the summer peak.

Franklin County’s new case rate is 1,149 new cases per 100,000 over the same two weeks. The county’s summer peak case rate was about 900.

There is a lag in the weeks used for the latest case rates because cases reported to public health officials are backdated to when symptoms appeared or samples were collected for COVID tests.

Hospital cases

Statewide hospitalization rates are now exceeding April’s peak and one in five intensive care unit beds in Washington is occupied by suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients.

Fifty-five people were admitted to Washington state hospitals on Nov. 12, the most recent date with complete data. Average daily hospitalizations peaked in early April at 78.

Preliminary data indicates that record was exceeded on Nov. 18 and is now over 100 patients admitted per day.

In Benton and Franklin County 53 people were hospitalized Wednesday for treatment of COVID-19, including people with positive test results and those awaiting test results.

As many as 89 patients were hospitalized locally on a single day in the summer.

Information on ICU patients is not released by local hospitals.

The 53 local COVID-19 hospital patients on Wednesday accounted for just under 14% of the 390 patients in the hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser.

Washington state

The Washington state Department of Health reported 2,197 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 31 deaths Tuesday.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 167,216 cases and 2,805 deaths, up from 165,019 cases and 2,774 deaths Monday. Washington’s population is estimated at about 7.6 million, according to U.S. Census figures from July 2019.

Approximately 9.9% of all staffed adult acute care hospital beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients on Tuesday. In the state’s intensive care units, 21.2% of staffed adult beds were occupied by suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients.

On Nov. 20, the most recent date with complete testing data, 12,746 specimens were collected statewide, with 23.5% testing positive. The average positive test rate for the seven days prior was 11.1%. More than 3 million tests have been conducted in Washington.

The test numbers reflect only polymerase chain reaction tests, which are administered while the virus is presumably still active in the body.

King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 45,127 cases and 887 deaths. Yakima County ranks second for deaths with 297 by the state’s count.

Pierce has the second highest number of cases, followed by Spokane, Snohomish, Yakima, Clark, Benton and Franklin counties. If Benton and Franklin counties were considered together, they would rank fourth after Spokane County, according to the latest statewide data complete for all counties.

All counties in Washington have cases. Only five counties have case counts of fewer than 100, including Columbia with 39 cases.

For the past seven days, Washington had a case rate of 33.1 per 100,000 people. The national rate for the same period is 48.7 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Minnesota has the highest rate in the United States, at 107.6. Hawaii is the lowest, at 5.7.

There have been more than 13.6 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 270,003 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Tuesday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has the highest number of reported cases and deaths of any nation.

More than 1.4 million people have died from the disease worldwide. Global cases exceed 63 million.

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

This story was originally published December 2, 2020 at 12:52 PM.