4 more Tri-Cities residents lost to COVID. State says new case data lagging
Four more recent deaths from complications of COVID-19 were announced Wednesday by the Benton Franklin Health District.
New COVID case numbers for the Tri-Cities area were incomplete, with just 50 new cases confirmed.
The Washington state Department of Health has reported slowdowns in processing laboratory test results since Friday, according to the local health district.
Some other recent daily case reports for the Tri-Cities area also could be incomplete, including the drop below 200 confirmed cases as reported Tuesday.
However, the slowdowns are not impacting people being informed of their test results, according to the local health district.
The recent deaths included a Benton County woman in her 50s with underlying health conditions.
The other three deaths were in people with no known underlying health conditions.
They were a Benton County man in his 60s, a Franklin County man in his 60s and a Franklin County man in his 90s.
They bring total deaths of Tri-Cities area residents from COVID-19 to 217, including 146 Benton County residents and 71 Franklin County residents.
They include 90 people ages 80 or older, 62 people in their 70s, 44 people in their 60s, 16 people in their 50s, four people in their 40s and one teenager.
The number of people hospitalized locally for treatment of COVID-19 dropped from a fall and winter high of 81 patients as of Tuesday to 76 on Wednesday.
They still accounted for nearly 20% of all patients in hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser.
The Washington state Department of Health has set a goal of fewer than 10% of hospital patients being treated for COVID-19 to ensure adequate capacity.
New case rates remain high for the Tri-Cities area, with the latest complete rates figured for the two weeks through Dec. 9. That data could also be impacted by the slowdown in processing laboratory tests because cases are backdated to when a person had a test performed or when symptoms developed.
Franklin County had 1,072 reported cases per 100,000 people for those two weeks and Benton County had 768 cases per 100,000 people.
Total confirmed cases in the two counties number at least 17,886, despite the recent incomplete data.
Kennewick drive-thru testing?
The Benton Franklin Health District is interested in opening a south Kennewick location for COVID-19 testing that would replace the HAPO Center drive-thru testing site in Pasco.
The HAPO Center site is not fenced or secure, requiring set up and take down to be done at the site daily. It is time that could otherwise be used for testing, according to Benton County.
The Benton County Commission has agreed to allow its old roads shop on South Ely Street in Kennewick to be used at no cost to the health district. The health district would be responsible for paying utility costs.
The change would not affect the testing site at 3110 W. Argent Road in Pasco by the Columbia Basin College, with daily free testing there from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The HAPO Center continues to offer free testing 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, pending a decision on the possible move.
For information on testing at those sites and other places offering COVID testing in Benton and Franklin counties, go to bit.ly/Tri-CitiesTesting.
Washington state
The Washington state Department of Health reported 1,730 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 35 deaths Tuesday.
Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 205,069 cases and 2,953 deaths, up from 203,339 cases and 2,918 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.
Hospitalizations continue to increase with 83 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 admitted to Washington state hospitals Nov. 26, the most recent date with complete data. Preliminary reports indicate the average number of patients admitted daily was 113 in early December.
Approximately 12.9% (1,181) of all staffed adult acute care hospital beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients on Tuesday. In the state’s intensive care units, 21.6% (260) of staffed adult beds were occupied by suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients.
On Dec. 4, the most recent date with testing data, 24,943 specimens were collected statewide, with 11.6% testing positive. The average positive test rate for the seven days prior was 12.7%. More than 3.3 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 54,795 cases and 928 deaths, according to the last data posted by the state. Pierce County is second in cases, with 21,821. Snohomish County has the second highest number of deaths at 314.
After Pierce County, those with the highest case numbers are Spokane, Snohomish, Yakima and Clark counties, with Benton and Franklin counties in seventh and eighth cases. Combined they have more cases that Yakima County, which would make them fifth.
All counties in Washington have cases. Only four counties have case counts of fewer than 100, including Columbia with 60 cases.
For the past seven days, Washington had a case rate of 36.8 per 100,000 people. The national rate for the same period is 65.3 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Oklahoma has the highest rate in the United States, at 125.5. Hawaii is the lowest, at 7.9.
There have been more than 16.6 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 302,689 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 1.6 million people have died from the disease worldwide. Global cases exceed 73 million.
Craig Sailor with The (Tacoma) News Tribune contributed to this report.
This story was originally published December 16, 2020 at 1:48 PM.