Tri-Cities new COVID cases hit plateau, but 36 people died in December

2020 came to a grim end in the Tri-Cities with the number of COVID-19 cases increasing 36% in December and 36 Tri-Citians dying from complications of the disease.

The number of COVID patients hospitalized locally in December hit the highest number at 81 patients since late June when as many as 89 people were hospitalized one day.

Still Dr. Amy Person, health officer for Benton and Franklin counties, sees reason for optimism.

“Looking at the overall trends the last couple months we see a plateauing of cases, which is a promising sign,” she said before the New Year’s holiday weekend. “Even though the disease activity is high, it is stabilizing and even decreasing.”

The promising trend shows the results of Tri-Cities area residents choosing to wear masks in public, maintaining distances from nonhousehold members and limiting gatherings, she said.

The latest new case rates reported had dropped to pre-Thanksgiving levels for both counties, although combined they remained well above the previous peak for the Tri-Cities area in July.

Franklin County’s latest two-week case rate was 803 new cases per 100,000 people. That was below its rate of about 900 per 100,000 in July, when the Tri-Cities area had its first peak of the pandemic.

But in Benton County the latest two-week case rate of 639 new cases was well above the previous peak rate of about 400 per 100,000 in July.

The high number of deaths was not entirely a surprise, due to the time it takes infections to lead to hospitalizations and then deaths for some.

Dr. Person remains concerned that the number of hospitalized COVID patients was high in December, adding to the already higher number of patients that hospitals normally admit during winter months.

Health care workers already are tired and stressed as another surge in COVID cases is anticipated due to gatherings and travel over the Christmas and New Year holidays, she said.

But the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, now available just to health care workers and staff and residents of long-term care workers, offers hope that infection rates, hospitalizations and deaths will decrease with time, she said.

“I want to encourage everyone to stay the course, as long and as difficult a course as it has been,” she said.

Cases top 20,000

The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Tri-Cities area since the start of the pandemic topped 20,000, for a total of 20,067 known cases at the end of December.

That was up from 14,740 on the last day of November; 10,176 at the end of October and 8,916 at the end of September.

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.

New cases in the Tri-Cities area were not reported over the holiday weekend.

The new cases reported on Thursday brought the number of new cases the last week of December to an average of 164 per day, down from the 200 or more cases many days earlier in the month.

The 212 new cases for Benton County Thursday, including the cases for which data was delayed, bring its total to 11,453.

Franklin County’s new cases Thursday numbered 118, for a total of 8,614.

No other deaths from complications of COVID-19 were reported Thursday, though five deaths were reported earlier in the final week of December.

COVID deaths since the start of the pandemic reached 233, including 156 in Benton County and 77 in Franklin County.

Local hospitals reported they were treating 74 patients for COVID-19 as of Thursday, up from the 68 patients the day before

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 4,425 new cases of COVID-19 and 41 deaths Thursday, with no data updated on New Year’s Day.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 246,752 cases and 3,461 deaths. The case total includes 9,587 cases listed as probable. Wednesday’s numbers were 242,330 cases and 3,420 deaths. 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. 12, the date with the most recent complete data, 101 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 were admitted to Washington state hospitals.

About 12.4% (1,088) of all staffed adult acute care hospital beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients Thursday. 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. 20, the most recent date with confirmed testing data, 8,735 specimens were collected statewide, with 12.5% testing positive.

The average positive test rate for the seven days prior was 8.6%. The test numbers reflect only polymerase chain reaction tests, which are administered while the virus is presumably still active in the body.

County numbers

King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 62,580 cases and 1,050 deaths. Pierce County is second in cases, with 25,864. Snohomish County has the second-highest deaths at 390.

Benton and Franklin counties rank seventh and eighth in the state for the number of cases.

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 22.8 per 100,000 people.

The national rate for the same period is 54.5 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

California has the highest rate in the United States, at 91.9. Hawaii is the lowest, at 6.7.

So far, 69,349 people have been vaccinated in Washington and 357,925 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 19.9 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 345,182 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 83 million.

This story was originally published January 2, 2021 at 12:31 PM.