Tri-Cities misses mark to move to Phase 2. But it’s no longer worst in WA

Neither the Tri-Cities nor any other area of the state will be allowed Monday to move to Phase 2 of reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the good news for the Tri-Cities region is it no longer doing the worst at meeting four requirements set by the Washington state Department of Health.

Gov. Jay Inslee announced last week that he was dividing the state into eight regions with counties that would be evaluated jointly for the new Healthy Washington Roadmap to Recovery.

The new plan, which starts with just two phases, focuses on reducing the rate of new COVID cases.

All eight regions were rolled back to a revised Phase 1. Indoor restaurant and bar service, small indoor gatherings and indoor fitness center use at 25% capacity would not be allowed until Phase 2.

On Friday, the state reported that the South Central Region, including the Tri-Cities, had met two of four requirements and was close to meeting a third.

The region includes Benton, Franklin, Yakima, Walla Walla, Columbia and Kittitas counties.

Tri-Cities region scores

Here’s how it stands:

▪ The six counties combined had a 12% reduction in new cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 people from the two weeks of Dec. 6-19 to the two weeks of Dec. 20 to Jan. 2.

That meets the state requirement of a 10% reduction.

▪ The region had a 22% decrease in hospital admissions for COVID-19 for the two weeks from Dec. 13-26 to the two weeks of Dec. 27 to Jan. 9.

That meets the state requirement of a 10% decrease.

▪ Some 91% of hospital intensive care unit beds were in use by patients of all types on average for each day from Jan. 3 to 9.

The region came close to meeting the state requirement of less than 90% ICU occupancy.

▪ The region had 19% of COVID-19 tests return positive for the week of Dec. 20-26, the most recent period for which testing data is complete.

The state requirement is fewer than 10% positive tests for the coronavirus.

Earlier in the week, Heather Hill of the Benton Franklin Health District, said on the Kadlec on Call podcast that more people getting tested would likely help drop the percent of positive tests.

“We need a lot of people to test, both people who ... find out they are positive and people who find out they are negative,” she said. “It is so important to test a cross section of your population.”

At the two free drive-thru testing sites in Pasco and Kennewick, public health officials are seeing 12% to 15% positive test results with sometimes close to 20%, she said.

Sustaining COVID drop

To move to Phase 2, the region that includes the Tri-Cities area will need to meet requirements for a lower percentage of positive test results and slightly drop its ICU usage, as well as continue downward trends in new COVID case and hospital admission rates.

The region of the state that appears closest to moving to Phase 2 of reopening is the West Region, which includes Grays Harbor, Pacific, Thurston and Lewis County.

The region was meeting all requirements, except hospital COVID admissions. They dropped 7%, just 3% short of the requirement.

The Puget Sound region was also meeting all requirements except for hospital COVID admissions.

The Southwest Region, which includes the five counties along the Columbia River west of Benton County, was doing the worst.

The only requirement it was meeting was having only 70% of its hospital ICU beds in use.

The state Department of Health plans to review progress each Friday, with any change in reopening for regions occurring on the following Monday.

Changes could include both regions moving to Phase 2 and also, once some regions reach Phase 2, a possible drop back into Phase 1 if they do not sustain progress.

This story was originally published January 15, 2021 at 4:16 PM.