Another Tri-Cities area COVID death, as health officials fear coming holiday surge
The number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Tri-Cities dropped Friday to 97, but another death from the disease was reported and more people were hospitalized.
A Franklin County woman in her 60s died recently of complications of COVID-19, the Benton Franklin Health District said Friday. She had no known underlying health conditions that have been linked to the risk of a severe case of COVID-19.
It was the seventh COVID death reported for the week.
The new cases reported on Friday brings the average number of new daily cases confirmed for the week to 165 per day.
That is 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.
Dr. Amy Person, health officer for Benton and Franklin counties, attributes the decrease in the number of new cases to new Washington state restrictions put in place in mid November.
They included an end to indoor dining and drinking at restaurants and bars, closing movie theaters, ending wedding receptions and limiting customers in stores to 25% capacity.
However, public health officials anticipate an increase in disease activity as the spread of infection through Thanksgiving travel and gatherings starts to show up, possibly in the coming week.
“My only hope is going to be if we do see that dramatic increase and it does lead to that inevitable increase in hospitalizations, and unfortunately in deaths as well, that we’ll get enough people to pay attention to that to change those Christmas plans,” Dr. Person said in an interview with the Benton Franklin Community Health Alliance and the Columbia Basin Badger Club.
COVID case rates
The confirmed case rate for Franklin County is 1,045 new cases per 100,000 people for the two weeks ending Nov. 27, the latest period for which new reported cases have been backdated to the onset of symptom or collection of samples for testing.
That means more than 1% of residents in the county tested positive for COVID-19 in that two week period.
In Benton County 708 new cases were reported per 100,000 for the same two week period.
The new cases reported on Friday included 67 in Benton County residents and 30 in Franklin County residents.
They bring the total count since the start of the pandemic to 15,320, including 8,533 in Benton county and 6,787 in Franklin County.
There have been 205 deaths in the two counties from infection with the coronavirus, including 139 in Benton County and 66 in Franklin County.
Tri-Cities hospitals
The number of patients hospitalized locally for treatment of COVID-19 jumped to 63 on Friday. That’s 10 more patients than on Thursday.
The 63 patients accounted for 16% of the 390 patients at the hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser.
About 85% of beds were in use, above the Washington state Department of Health target of less than 80% to make sure hospitals can handle a surge of COVID patients.
While Tri-Cities area hospitals continue to have capacity available, they have concerns about staffing, Dr. Person said in the Badger Club interview Thursday.
Staff are weary after treating COVID-19 patients for nine months, and they are being infected in the community, reducing available staff, she said.
“Our challenge is that hospitals in Spokane and the (state’s) west side are reaching capacity, which is going to affect being able to transfer patients for higher levels of care,” she said. “We’re already seeing restrictions and delays on non-urgent and elective procedures, which has an impact on people’s health right now.”
Washington state
The Washington state Department of Health reported 1,853 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 25 deaths Friday.
Pierce County reported 274 cases Friday and one new death. Pierce County has a total of 247 deaths likely caused by COVID-19 as of Friday, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 174,290 cases and 2,925 deaths, up from 172,437 cases and 2,900 deaths Thursday. Washington’s population is estimated at about 7.6 million, according to U.S. Census figures from July 2019.
Seventy-one people were admitted to Washington state hospitals on Nov. 15, the most recent date with complete data. Average daily hospitalizations peaked during the April surge at 78. Preliminary data indicates average daily admittances were 98 in late November.
Approximately 11.1% of all staffed adult acute care hospital beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients on Friday. In the state’s intensive care units, 22.8% of staffed adult beds were occupied by suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients.
King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 46,490 cases and 914 deaths. Yakima County has the second highest number of deaths at 313.
Spokane County has the second highest number of cases in the state with 18,193, followed by Pierce, 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 four counties have case counts of fewer than 100, including Columbia with 49.
For the past seven days, Washington had a case rate of 35.1 per 100,000 people. The national rate for the same period is 53 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. South Dakota has the highest rate in the United States, at 116.7. Hawaii is the lowest, at 5.5.
There have been more than 14.3 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 278,563 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.
More than 1.5 million people have died from the disease worldwide. Global cases exceed 65 million.
This story was originally published December 4, 2020 at 1:37 PM.