4 Tri-Citians die of COVID for 2nd day in a row. Hospitalizations climb higher

For the second day in a row, four Tri-Cities area residents were reported to have died from complications of COVID-19.

One of those, a Benton County man in his 60s, had no underlying health conditions, according to the Benton Franklin Health District.

The most recent deaths also include a Franklin County woman in her 60s and two Benton County women, one in her 60s and the other in her 70s.

All three women had underlying health conditions that put them at increased risk of serious illness from the coronavirus, the health district reported Tuesday.

They bring the total COVID deaths reported to date in December to 30, up from nine in November.

Since the start of the pandemic, 227 residents of the Mid-Columbia have died from COVID, including 154 in Benton County and 73 in Franklin County.

COVID patients up

The number of patients in local hospitals being treated for COVID-19 jumped up 10 for a total of 73, according to Tuesday’s health district numbers.

Those 73 people — both with positive test results and pending test results — amounted to 17.9% of the total 407 patients at the hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser.

It remains above the Washington state Department of Health’s goal of fewer than 10% of patients being treated for COVID to ensure adequate hospital capacity.

Meanwhile, the number of confirmed cases of residents and staff in long-term care facilities in the Tri-Cities only went up by 1, to a total 720 since the pandemic started more than nine months ago.

Tri-Cities tops 19,000

Overall, the two counties reported 180 new cases since Monday — 135 in Benton and 45 in Franklin.

That brings the total case count to 19,026, including 10,825 in Benton County and 8,201 in Franklin County.

The latest two-week new case rate for the Tri-Cities is continuing to drop since hitting recent highs.

Benton County had a case rate of 781 new cases per 100,000 people for the two weeks ending Dec. 15, down from a high of 820.

Franklin County had a case rate of 1,068 new cases per 100,000 for the same time period, down from a high of 1,152.

There is a delay in figuring case rates because positive test results are backdated to the date the person had the test done or when symptoms first appeared.

Washington state

The Washington State Department of Health reported 4,035 new cases of COVID-19 and two deaths on Monday.

Statewide totals have reached 226,635 total cases and 3,106 deaths, up from 222,600 cases and 3,104 deaths as of Saturday’s update.

The department is no longer reporting additional deaths on weekends or new case counts on Sundays.

The department cautioned that Monday’s case counts could include up to 100 duplicates. Negative test results dating back to Nov. 21 are incomplete, “thus testing and case numbers should be interpreted with caution,” the department’s website says.

“The Epidemiologic Curves tab is the most accurate representation of COVID activity and is updated daily as new cases are identified and duplicates are resolved,” the site says.

King County continues to report the state’s highest counts for cases (58,747) and deaths (956).

Pierce County reported 126 new COVID-19 cases and three additional deaths Monday, bringing its totals to 22,848 cases and 275 deaths.

Each of the state’s 39 counties have reported positive cases and all but three have reported at least one virus-related death.

There are 1,577 cases that have not been assigned to a county.

There have been 3,559,695 tests conducted in the state with 6.4% coming back positive.

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