336 new COVID cases reported in Tri-Cities. Average daily cases down since last week

Another 336 confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported Tuesday for the past four days in the Tri-Cities area by the Benton Franklin Health District.

It brings the average number of cases per day to 84, a significant drop from numbers reported last week. Then cases were averaging 152 per day.

There were no immediate reports of data collection issues over the weekend that could have resulted in an incorrect report Tuesday. However, there is a delay in processing negative test results.

The lower case numbers helped drop the rates for new cases.

Case rates give a snapshot of a longer period than daily numbers, and they are based on when a person sought testing or when symptoms appeared, rather than when positive case results were reported to public health agencies.

Benton County had 688 new cases per 100,000 people over the two weeks ending Jan. 12. That is down from the case rate of 719 reported on Friday.

However, it still up from rates in the 500s, as reported Jan. 1-11.

Franklin County had 802 new cases per 100,000 over the two weeks ending Jan. 12. That is down from the rate of 857 reported on Friday. Case rates reported this month have been as low as 706.

The new confirmed cases reported Tuesday included 200 in Benton County and 136 in Franklin County.

They bring the total since the start of the pandemic to 13,239 cases in Benton County and 9,592 in Franklin County. Together the two counties have had 22,831 cases confirmed by positive test results.

The local health district now reports recent deaths from complications of COVID-19 just once a week, on Fridays.

The death toll for the Tri-Cities area stands at 249, including 166 deaths of Benton County residents and 83 deaths of Franklin County residents. Sixteen of the deaths were announced this month.

As of Tuesday 57 patients were being treated for COVID-19 at the hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser.

They accounted for 14% of all 415 patients at the hospitals. They state’s goal is less than 10% to ensure adequate hospital capacity.

Daily patient counts have been in the 50s and 60s all month.

Washington state

The Washington State Department of Health reported 3,969 new cases of COVID-19 and one death Sunday, in its latest count since Friday.

The state did not update its dashboard Saturday citing “technical challenges” processing COVID-19 data and also did not update information on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Statewide totals Sunday had reached 289,939 cases and 3,903 deaths, up from 285,970 cases Friday. The new case total includes 12,535 cases that are listed as probable.

The state’s dashboard cautions that total case counts “may include up to 950 duplicates” due to incomplete negative test results data From Nov. 21-30 and Dec. 30-Jan. 17.

“Therefore, percent positivity and case counts should be interpreted with caution,” the dashboard says.

“Due to data system issues this weekend, local health jurisdictions were not able to reconcile hospitalization numbers this weekend. Therefore, hospitalization numbers should be interpreted with caution.”

Cases by county

King County continues to report the state’s highest counts for cases (73,015), hospitalizations (4,603) and deaths (1,152).

Pierce County had reported 30,912 cases as of Sunday and 415 deaths, according to state data. Spokane County (30,756 cases, 415 deaths) and Snohomish County (26,267 cases, 442 deaths) also have each reported more than 400 deaths.

Yakima County ranked next for cases, followed by Clark, Benton and Franklin counties. If Benton and Franklin counties were considered jointly, they would rank fifth for cases.

Lauren Smith of The (Tacoma) New Tribune contributed to this report.