330 new COVID cases reported in Tri-Cities area, as data reports catch up

The Benton Franklin Health District reported 330 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, after computer issues delayed complete reporting for the previous two days.

The new cases bring the number of new cases reported this week to an average 164 per day.

New cases in the Tri-Cities area will not be reported again by the local health district until after the holiday weekend on Monday.

Confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic in Benton and Franklin cases since the start of the pandemic now top 20,000 for a total of 20,067.

The 212 new cases reported for Benton County Thursday bring its total to 11,453. Franklin County’s new cases reported Thursday number 118, for a total of 8,614.

The case rate for Benton and Franklin counties as reported most recently for the two weeks through Dec. 24 continued to drop.

Benton County had 639 new confirmed cases per 100,000 people during the two weeks ending Dec. 24. That’s down from numbers in the 800s in mid December.

There is a lag in the weeks covered by the latest case rates because newly reported positive test results are backdated to the day when a person sought testing or when symptoms appeared.

Franklin County has had 803 new cases per 100,000 reported for the same two weeks. That is down from case rates that exceeded 1,000 earlier in December.

No other recent deaths from complications of COVID-19 were reported on Thursday, to add to the five deaths reported earlier this week.

Since the start of the pandemic, 233 Tri-Cities area residents have died as a result of COVID. They include 156 in Benton County and 77 Franklin County deaths.

Local hospitals reported they were treating 74 patients for COVID-19 as of Thursday, up from the 68 patients reported the day before. As many as 81 patients were being treated earlier this month.

The 74 COVID patients as of Thursday amounted to 18% of the 404 total patients at hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser.

Washington state

The Washington state Department of Health reported 1,526 new cases of COVID-19 and 51 deaths Wednesday.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 242,330 cases and 3,420 deaths. The case total includes 9,337 cases listed as probable. Those numbers are up from 240,804 cases and 3,369 deaths on Tuesday. DOH revises previous case and death counts daily.

Washington’s population is estimated at about 7.6 million, according to U.S. Census figures from July 2019.

As of Dec. 11, the date with the most recent complete data, 114 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 were admitted to Washington state hospitals.

Preliminary reports indicate average daily hospital admissions were 99 in late-December.

About 12.4% (1,088) of all staffed adult acute care hospital beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients Wednesday. In the state’s intensive care units, 19.2% (235) of staffed adult beds were occupied by suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients.

On Dec. 19, the most recent date with confirmed testing data, 10,884 specimens were collected statewide, with 12.6% testing positive.

The average positive test rate for the seven days prior was 8.8%. More than 3.8 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.

Cases by county

King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 61,710 cases and 1,037 deaths. Pierce County is second in cases, with 25,464. Snohomish County has the second-highest deaths at 386.

Ranking third for cases is Spokane County, followed by Snohomish, Yakima, Clark, Benton and Franklin counties. If Benton and Franklin counties were considered together, they would have the fifth most cases.

All counties in Washington have cases. Only four counties have case counts of fewer than 100, including Columbia with 82 cases.

For the past seven days, Washington had a case rate of 24.3 per 100,000 people.

The national rate for the same period is 54.3 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

California has the highest rate in the United States, at 94.8. Hawaii is the lowest, at 6.6.

So far, 59,491 people have been vaccinated in Washington and 356,650 doses have been delivered to the state.

This week, 57,500 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 44,500 of the Moderna vaccine were expected to be delivered to the state, according to DOH.

The state is expecting to distribute 43,375 doses to 87 sites in 26 counties this week. Another 58,650 doses are expected to be delivered to long term care facilities and 17 tribes and Urban Indian Health Programs.

There have been more than 19.7 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 341,845 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Wednesday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has the highest number of reported cases and deaths of any nation.

More than 1.8 million people have died from the disease worldwide. Global cases exceed 82 million.

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

This story was originally published December 31, 2020 at 1:57 PM.