Tri-Cities-Yakima-Walla Walla region ranks worst in WA state’s new COVID reopening plan

The Tri-Cities-Yakima-Walla Walla region ranks the worst in the Washington state Department of Health’s first report on new metrics considered for reopening during the COVID pandemic.

Earlier this week, Gov. Jay Inslee announced that Washington would move to a new phased system with all counties assigned to one of eight regional groups, and all rolled back to start in Phase 1 of the “Healthy Washington — Roadmap to Recovery.”

All regions in the state remain in Phase 1 under the first of the planned weekly progress reports released Friday.

“We know that all people in Washington want to move forward as quickly as possible with respect to COVID-19,” said Dr. Umair Shah, Washington’s secretary of health.

“However, these metrics show that we are just not ready to do so now,” he said. “We have made progress but need to continue to work together to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 across our state.”

Some positive trends in the data show that some regions could move to Phase 2 soon, said Lacy Fehrenbach, the state deputy secretary for COVID-19 response.

In Phase 1, no indoor dining is allowed at bars and restaurants and indoor gatherings of even a few nonhousehold members are prohibited.

Phase 2 allows indoor gatherings of up to five people from two households, indoor dining at 25% capacity, and fitness centers operating at 25% capacity.

Tri-Cities region ranking

Benton and Franklin counties are grouped with Yakima, Kittitas, Walla Walla and Columbia counties in the new regional system.

The region, called South Central, had the worst scores of the state for two of the four areas the state considers — percent of positive COVID-19 tests and occupancy of intensive care unit beds.

It ranked second to worst for new COVID cases per population, but did better on hospital admissions based on population.

Here’s the breakdown by metrics:

▪ The state wants to see fewer than 10% of tests for the coronavirus return positive.

The state as a whole met that standard with 9% of tests positive for Dec. 13-19.

The South Central Region that includes the Tri-Cities had 21% of COVID test results positive, the worst rate in the state.

The best rate shown in the state was 4% for northern counties Whatcom, Skagit, San Juan and Island. It was among four regions with positive results below 10%.

▪ The state standard for hospital intensive care beds being used by patients is less than 90%.

The average for the state was 80% for the period of Dec. 27 to Jan. 2.

The South Central Region had 93% of beds in use, the worst in the state, with four other regions falling in the range of 80% to 90% occupancy.

The grouping of Whatcom, Skagit, San Jan and Island did the best with 49%.

▪ The state standard for new COVID cases is a greater than 10% decreasing trend in new COVID case rates over two weeks.

The average for the state is a decrease of 22% when comparing the period of Nov. 29 to Dec. 12 to the period of Dec. 13-26.

The South Central Region decrease in cases per 100,000 people was 4% — the second worst in the state.

The Western Washington group of Grays Harbor, Thurston, Pacific and Lewis counties did worse with a drop of just 1%. All other groups had drops ranging from 22% to 31%.

▪ The final state standard is a greater than 10% drop in COVID hospital admissions per 100,000 over two weeks.

The South Central region had a 12% increase in hospital admissions from Dec. 6-19 to Dec. 20 to Jan. 2.

Elsewhere the trend ranged from an increase of 50% in the northwest region to just two regions showing decreases of 1% to 2%.

Those were the North Central grouping that includes Grant and Douglas to the north of the Tri-Cities and the Southwest counties to the west of the Tri-Cities along the Columbia River.

This story was originally published January 8, 2021 at 7:30 PM.