2 deaths, 455 new COVID cases reported in Tri-Cities over 5 days

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct an error by the Benton Franklin Health District about the gender of the two people in their 80s who died from COVID-19. Both were women.

---

The Benton Franklin Health District reported the deaths of two people in their 80s after a five-day lull in updated COVID-19 case numbers.

On Monday, the district caught up from the long Christmas break and reported 455 new cases.

Those positive cases — which bring the total in the Mid-Columbia to 19,539 since the start of the coronavirus pandemic last spring — cover last Wednesday through Sunday.

In Benton County, the 262 new confirmed cases brought the total to 11,111. The 193 new cases in Franklin County bring their total to 8,428.

Local testing sites were closed down on the holiday.

And health officials say data on negative test results back to Nov. 21 remains incomplete, so “testing numbers should be interpreted with caution.”

Benton County had a case rate of 703 new cases per 100,000 people for the two weeks ending Dec. 21. The high was 820.

Franklin County had a case rate of 896 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.

Patients increase over 5 days

The number of people hospitalized in the Mid-Columbia with either positive COVID tests or awaiting results increased over that same five-day period by nine.

Those 77 people being treated amount to 18.2% of the total 424 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.

At the same time, 92% of licensed hospital beds in the two counties currently are occupied with patients being treated for a variety of ailments. The state target is less than 80% for hospital readiness.

Meanwhile, four more residents and staff at Tri-Cities long-term care facilities were diagnosed with COVID-19, bringing the pandemic total to 732. Health district data does not give details on which care centers have been affected.

The two deaths reported Monday were both women. Both Franklin County residents, they had underlying health conditions, the health district said.

Benton County had no reported deaths.

In total, 230 Tri-Citians have died from complications of COVID-19 over the past 10 months, including 153 in Benton County and 77 in Franklin County.

Post-holiday testing

The health district is encouraging people to get tested if they celebrated over the holidays outside of their household and think they may have been exposed to COVID-19.

People should get a test done no sooner than five days after the gathering. In the meantime, they should quarantine until they can be tested and while waiting to get test results back, health officials say.

Those who test positive are asked to cooperate with contact tracers — who will keep their identity anonymous — and to isolate for 10 days after receiving results.

If someone tests negative but knows they were exposed to COVID, health officials say they still should quarantine for 14 total days. The exception is if they are an essential worker or at their employer’s discretion.

The Tri-Cities two free, drive-thru testing sites are open this week. The HAPO Center site will be closed on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, while the West Columbia Basin College site is only closed Jan. 1.

The CBC-West site at 3110 W. Argent Road in Pasco has regular hours daily from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Normal hours at the HAPO Center, former TRAC, on Burden Boulevard is Tuesday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Preregistration can be done for both online at bit.ly/Tri-CitiesTesting. More information about testing at the those two sites and at other places, from clinics to pharmacies, is posted at the same link.

Washington state

The Washington state Department of Health is no longer updating COVID-19 case numbers and deaths on Sundays, as of earlier this month.

Statewide totals had reached 236,719 cases and 3,184 deaths as of Saturday’s update. The case total includes 8,924 cases listed as probable.

There were 1,020 new cases of COVID-19 reported on Saturday and 2,625 from Friday.

The department also reported Saturday that total case counts “may include up to 200 duplicates.”

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

This story was originally published December 28, 2020 at 2:26 PM.