COVID infections in Tri-Cities elderly jump 7-fold in a month

Increasing COVID-19 cases among Tri-Cities elderly, who are much more likely to die from the disease than younger people, are concerning Tri-Cities public health workers.

Infections in those 80 and older have risen seven times over the last month, said Dr. Amy Person, health officer for Benton and Franklin counties.

Public health officials had predicted that rising rates in working-age people would spread the coronavirus to older people.

Some were exposed by younger people when more visiting in nursing and other long-term care homes was allowed, she said Thursday. Others were infected by younger people at family gatherings.

The Tri-Cities area reported Thursday 158 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, a drop from several other recent days.

It puts the average number of new daily cases for the week so far at about 176, down from an average of 206 cases per day for last week up until Thanksgiving, when daily reports were paused until after the weekend.

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. Cases are reported from the weekend through Friday.

Reason for hope

“We’ve seen a lot of discouraging news,” said Dr. Person, including new case counts rising this fall and more hospitalizations of COVID patients.

“But there are some positive notes we can draw hope from,” she said.

The latest Tri-Cities area case rates declined some by Thursday’s report.

Franklin County had 1,083 new cases per 100,000 people for the two weeks through Nov. 26, the latest confirmed case rate. That’s down from a case rate of 1,149 per 100,000 as reported a day earlier.

Benton County had 743 cases per 100,000 for the two weeks through Nov. 26, down from the case rate of nearly 800 reported on Wednesday.

COVID-19 protection restrictions were tightened across the state in mid November, and the Tri-Cities area has seen a recent decrease in how fast cases have been rising.

When additional restrictions were implemented in Europe, it was able to turn around disease activity within four weeks, she said.

The Tri-Cities area previously also saw a decline in cases this summer after people began wearing masks, maintaining physical distance and not gathering outside the home, she said.

“If we stay diligent and maintain the course we can turn this around,” Dr. Person said. “It’s the holiday season and I know it becomes increasingly difficult not to see our extended family or our friends. But if we can continue to follow the mitigation measures, we can see a brighter new year coming in 2021.”

Tri-Cities COVID testing

The free drive-thru testing sites by Columbia Basin College and the HAPO Center, both in Pasco, have been very busy, Dr. Person said.

The site by CBC at 3110 W. Argent Road, Pasco, was opened with the capacity to test 500 people a day, but on Monday set a new record. It collected samples for testing from more than 900 people.

The increase in testing has led to longer turn-around times for reporting cases to the local health district, which has delayed contact tracers contacting people who may have been exposed by an ill person, Dr. Person said.

However, people who use a new Washington state app can get quick, automatic notification if they have been around someone who tested positive for COVID, she said.

People with iPhones can enable the “exposure notifications” feature that is already in their phone’s settings, and Android devices can download the app, called “WA Notify.”

Using the app, which relies on Bluetooth wireless technology to detect whether people have been in contact with someone who later tests positive for COVID, is voluntary and no identifiable information is collected, Dr. Person said.

Cases, deaths, hospitalization

No new recent deaths from complications of COVID-19 were reported in the Tri-Cities area on Thursday, after six deaths were reported on the first two days of the month.

They brought the total deaths to 204 since the start of the pandemic, including 139 in Benton County and 65 in Franklin County.

The new cases reported on Monday included 81 in Benton County and 77 in Franklin County.

There now have been 15,223 COVID cases confirmed since the start of the pandemic, including 8,466 in Benton County and 6,757 in Franklin County.

The number of patients hospitalized for treatment of COVID-19 reported on Thursday, 53 patients, was unchanged from the day before.

As many as 89 patients were hospitalized locally for treatment of confirmed or suspected COVID-19, pending test results, on a single day in the summer.

The 53 local COVID-19 hospital patients on Wednesday accounted for just under 14% of the 389 patients in the hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser.

A total of 84% of all hospital beds are being used by patients. The Washington state Department of Health wants to see fewer than 80% of beds in use to ensure hospital readiness.

Information on intensive care unit patients is not released by Tri-Cities hospitals.

But the number of confirmed and suspected COVID patients patients in ICUs across the state doubled in the past three weeks, said Dr. Kathy Lofy, Washington state health officer, during a news media briefing on Wednesday.

Washington state

The Washington state Department of Health reported 3,126 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 45 deaths Wednesday.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 170,342 cases and 2,850 deaths, up from 167,216 cases and 2,805 deaths Tuesday. Washington’s population is estimated at about 7.6 million, according to U.S. Census figures from July 2019.

Ninety-two people were admitted to Washington state hospitals on Nov. 13, the most recent date with complete data. Average daily hospitalizations peaked during the April surge at 78. Preliminary data indicates average daily admittances were 95 in late November.

Approximately 10.7% of all staffed adult acute care hospital beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients on Wednesday. In the state’s intensive care units, 22.4% of staffed adult beds were occupied by suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients.

On Nov. 20, the most recent date with testing data, 20,273 specimens were collected statewide, with 15.1% testing positive. The average positive test rate for the seven days prior was 9.9%. More than 3 million tests have been conducted in Washington.

King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 45,757 cases and 897 deaths. Yakima County ranks second for deaths, according to state data.

Pierce County has the second highest number of cases in the state with 17,690, followed by Spokane, Snohomish, Yakima, Clark, Benton and Franklin counties. If Benton and Franklin counties were considered together, they would rank fifth.

All counties in Washington have cases. Only five counties have case counts of fewer than 100, including Columbia with 45.

For the past seven days, Washington had a case rate of 30.7 per 100,000. The national rate for the same period is 49.2 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Minnesota has the highest rate in the United States, at 100.3. Hawaii is the lowest, at 5.6.

There have been more than 13.9 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 273,170 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Wednesday 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 64 million.

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

This story was originally published December 3, 2020 at 1:47 PM.