Tri-Cities new COVID cases continue to slide. But hospitalizations jump

The Tri-Cities has 78 more cases of COVID-19 confirmed, as numbers reported by the Benton Franklin Health District have been down so far this week.

The case rate, which reflects two weeks of data, also is down.

However, more people are hospitalized locally for COVID-19 treatment, but with patient numbers remaining in the range of the 50s and 60s that’s been reported all month.

The new cases reported by health officials on Tuesday bring the average daily new cases for the week — starting with the weekend — to 88.

Last week an average of 101 cases per day were reported and the week before cases were averaging 152 each day.

New case rates for both counties were down about 150 new cases over two weeks from the case rate reported on Friday.

Benton County had 556 new cases per 100,000 people for the two weeks ending Jan. 19. It is the lowest case rate reported since Jan. 8.

On Friday the reported case rate for Benton County was 704.

Franklin County had 636 new cases per 100,000 for the two weeks ending Jan. 19. It is the lowest case rate reported since before Thanksgiving.

On Friday the reported case rate for Franklin County was 786.

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

The Tri-Cities area now has had 23,557 cases confirmed through positive test results since the start of the pandemic, including 13,719 in Benton County and 9,838 in Franklin County.

COVID hospitalizations

The number of people hospitalized for treatment of COVID-19 jumped to 60, as reported Tuesday, up from 52 the day before.

But local hospitals were treating as many as 60 patients for COVID-19 as recently as Wednesday, Jan. 20.

The 60 COVID patients on Tuesday accounted for nearly 15% of all 411 patients being treated at hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser. That is up from just under 13% the day before.

The number of residents and staff of long-term care homes diagnosed with COVID-19 continue to rise.

Since last Tuesday the number has increased by 10 to 796 since the start of the pandemic.

The Benton Franklin Health District has reported 256 deaths of local residents due to complications of COVID-19. It currently updates death information once a week on Fridays.

COVID vaccines

As of Monday, 12,074 doses of the COVID vaccine had been administered in Benton County and 2,550 in Franklin County, according to the latest data submitted by providers and clinics to the Washington state Department of Health.

In the two counties, 2,026 people are fully vaccinated with two shots. Currently approved vaccines require two shots for maximum effectiveness.

The state Department of Health said 500,105 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Washington.

As of Monday, 719,775 doses had been delivered to state providers and 124,800 had been delivered for the Center for Disease Control’s vaccination program for long-term care facilities for the elderly. Of those delivered doses, 59.2% had been administered.

Currently, Washington state is in phase 1B tier 1 of vaccinations. That phase adds anyone 65 and older and people 50 and older living in multigenerational households.

On the national level, 41.4 million doses have been distributed and 21.8 million shots of the approved vaccines have been given, according to CDC statistics. The population of the United States is approximately 328 million.

Washington state

The Washington state Department of Health reported 947 new cases of COVID-19 Monday and 34 deaths since Friday.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are 302,141 cases and 4,148 deaths. Those numbers are up from 301,194 cases Sunday and 4,114 deaths Friday. The case total includes 13,193 cases listed as probable.

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

As of Jan. 6, the date with the most recent complete data, 132 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 were admitted to Washington state hospitals.

Preliminary reports indicate average daily hospital admissions were 98 in mid-January.

Out of the state’s total staffed intensive care unit beds (1,211), approximately 78.5% (951) were occupied by patients Monday. Of those staffed ICU beds, 14.3% (173) held suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients.

For the past seven days, Washington had a case rate of 26.7 per 100,000 people. Seven states were lower.

The national rate for the same period was 52.6 per 100,000, according to the CDC.

On Jan. 6, the most recent date with confirmed testing data, 27,434 specimens were collected statewide, with 10.6% testing positive.

The average positive test rate for the seven days prior was 10.5%. More than 4.4 million tests have been conducted in Washington.

Cases by county

King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 75,903 cases and 1,219 deaths. Pierce County is second in cases, with 32,698. Snohomish County has the second-highest number of deaths at 471.

Benton and Franklin County rank seventh and eighth for cases in the state, behind Spokane, Snohomish Yakima and Clark counties. If they are considered together, they would rank fifth in the state for cases.

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

This story was originally published January 26, 2021 at 1:43 PM.