Benton County residents lead Tri-Cities with new COVID cases

Franklin County saw a dip in new COVID-19 cases overnight while Benton County remained steady with 161 confirmed positives.

The two counties overall had 258 more cases added to the Tri-Cities count of 16,569 since the pandemic set in nine months ago.

The Benton Franklin Health District on Wednesday reported 97 cases in Franklin, down 41 from the day before. The county in total has had 7,308 cases.

In Benton, the count dropped just 16 from the 177 residents reported Tuesday, bringing the county’s tally to 9,261.

The health district reported another COVID-related death. A Benton County man in his 70s with underlying health conditions has died. No new coronavirus deaths were reported in Franklin County on Wednesday. Since March, 206 Tri-Citians have died from COVID complications.

The number of patients hospitalized locally for treatment of the coronavirus totaled 68 on Wednesday, which accounts for 16.6% of the 409 people in the hospitals in Richland, Pasco, Kennewick and Prosser.

Pasco continues to have had the most residents diagnosed with the virus at 6,395, followed by Kennewick at 5,381. Richland is a distant third with confirmed cases in 2,132 residents.

Wednesday’s numbers showed a significant increase in positive results for adults in their 30s and 40s, with each category reporting more than 50 new cases.

There were 40 new cases for people in their 20s, one day after that category shot up by 72.

The new case rate in Benton County is 739 per 100,000 people for the two weeks through Dec. 2.

In Franklin County, 1,080 cases per 100,000 were reported for the same two-week period.

Case rates are figured based on when symptoms occurred or tests were done, causing a delay in data.

Washington state

The Washington state Department of Health reported 3,542 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 26 deaths Tuesday. A quarter of the state’s intensive care unit beds are now occupied by COVID-19 patients.

Up to 650 of the cases reported might be duplicates, DOH said.

Pierce County reported 406 cases Tuesday and two new deaths. Pierce County has a total of 253 deaths likely caused by COVID-19 as of Tuesday, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 187,327 cases and 2,967 deaths, up from 183,785 cases and 2,941 deaths Monday.

Washington’s population is estimated at about 7.6 million, according to U.S. Census figures from July 2019. The DOH revises previous case and death counts daily.

One hundred three people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 were admitted to Washington state hospitals on Nov. 19, the most recent date with complete data.

Preliminary data indicates average daily admittances were 104 in early December. Average daily hospitalizations previously peaked during the April surge at 78.

Approximately 11.9% (1,114) of all staffed adult acute care hospital beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients on Tuesday. In the state’s intensive care units, 25.2% (294) of staffed adult beds were occupied by suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients.

On Nov. 26, the most recent date with testing data, 11,327 specimens were collected statewide, with 21.6% testing positive. The average positive test rate for the seven days prior was 15%. More than 3.1 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 50,188 cases and 929 deaths. Spokane County is second, with 19,865 cases. Snohomish County has the second highest number of deaths at 312.

All counties in Washington have cases. Only four counties have case counts of fewer than 100.

For the past seven days, Washington had a case rate of 36.8 per 100,000. The national rate for the same period is 60.1 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rhode Island has the highest rate in the United States, at 122.9. Hawaii is the lowest, at 6.4.

There have been more than 15 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 285,880 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 1.5 million people have died from the disease worldwide. Global cases exceed 68 million.

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

This story was originally published December 9, 2020 at 2:27 PM.