9 more COVID deaths in Tri-Cities area. New cases dropping

Nine more Tri-Cities area people have died of complications of COVID-19, bringing the death toll for January to 32.

That compares to 36 deaths in December reported by the Benton Franklin Health District.

Since the start of the pandemic, 265 residents of Benton and Franklin County have died from COVID-19. They include 179 from Benton County and 86 from Franklin County.

The most recent deaths included six Benton County residents — a woman in her 80s, two women their 90s, two men in their 70s and a man in his 90s.

In Franklin County, a woman in her 90s, a man in his 70s and a man in his 80s have died.

The health district confirms deaths were caused by COVID-19 by checking for a positive COVID test result and reviewing death certificates to see if the virus is listed as a primary cause of death.

Because of a change in state law at the start of the year on death certificate privacy, the Benton Franklin Health District no longer reports whether people had pre-existing conditions that put them at higher risk of severe case.

Tri-Cities cases

New cases in the Tri-Cities are continuing to drop.

The Tri-Cities has 88 more confirmed cases of COVID-19, the Benton Franklin Health District reported on Friday.

They bring the average number of cases for the week — starting with the weekend — to 96 per day.

That’s down about 5% from an average of 101 cases per day reported last week. The week before cases were averaging 152 each day.

Washington state Department of Health reported on Friday that Benton and Franklin counties were among more than a dozen in the state with case counts that have declined to about mid-November levels.

But people are still urged to be diligent in taking protective measures against the coronavirus.

“While we are seeing some initial encouraging signs in the data, disease activity is still high and our state just detected the first cases of a variant that spreads more easily and quickly,” said Dr. Scott Lindquist, the state epidemiologist for communicable diseases.

“Now is the moment to drive down our disease rates and free up more hospital capacity by reducing the number of severe cases that require hospitalization,” he said.

High case rates

The number of new cases in the Tri-Cities area, while declining, is among those counties where case rates remain high.

The state Department of Health compared case rates for the two-week period ending Jan. 14, finding that 29 of Washington state’s 39 counties had rates above 200 new cases per 100,000 people. Five counties had rates above 500 new cases per 100,000 people.

They included Franklin County, which had a rate of 733 new cases per 100,000 people over those two weeks, and Benton County, which had a rate of 672 cases per 100,000.

More recent rates have dropped significantly.

Benton County had 493 new cases per 100,000 for the two weeks ending Jan. 22, the latest confirmed case rate. It was the first time the Benton County case rate has below 500 since mid November.

Franklin County had 561 new cases per 100,000 for the two week period ending Jan. 22, which is similar to its rate before Thanksgiving.

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 new cases reported Friday for the Tri-Cities area included 48 in Benton County and 40 in Franklin County.

They bring the case count to 23,874 since the start of the COVID pandemic, including 9,964 in Franklin County and 13,910 in Benton County.

Hospitalized patients

Area hospitals reported to the Benton Franklin Health District that they were treating 50 patients for COVID-19 at the end of the week. That’s up three from Thursday, but well below the 74 patients hospitalized as of the end of December.

However, in mid November COVID patient counts were in the 30s.

The 50 patients being treated for COVID-19 as of Friday accounted for just under 12% of the 426 patients at hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser.

Washington state

The Washington state Department of Health reported 2,584 new cases of COVID-19 and 32 deaths Thursday.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are 307,809 cases and 4,243 deaths. Those numbers are up from 305,225 cases and 4,211 deaths Wednesday. The case total includes 13,831 cases listed as probable. 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 Jan. 9, the date with the most recent complete data, 83 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 were admitted to Washington state hospitals.

Preliminary reports indicate average daily hospital admissions were 90 in mid-January.

Out of the state’s total staffed intensive care unit beds (1,243), approximately 80.3% (998) were occupied by patients Thursday. Of those staffed ICU beds, 15.7% (195) held suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients.

For the past seven days, Washington had a case rate of 21.2 per 100,000 people. Five states were lower.

The national rate for the same period was 48.8 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Arizona has the highest rate in the United States at 94.2. Hawaii is the lowest at 7.8.

COVID vaccine

According to DOH, 545,226 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Washington.

In Benton County, 13,592 doses of the COVID vaccine had been administered and in Franklin County 2,747 doses as of Wednesday, the latest information available.

As of Thursday, 774,425 doses had been delivered to state providers and 125,775 had been delivered for the CDC’s long-term care vaccination program. Of those delivered doses, 60.5% had been administered.

Currently approved vaccines require two shots for maximum effectiveness.

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

On the national level, 48.3 million doses have been distributed and 26.1 million shots of the approved vaccines have been given, according to CDC statistics. The population of the United States is approximately 328 million.

On Jan. 9, the most recent date with confirmed testing data, 16,633 specimens were collected statewide, with 9.6% testing positive.

The average positive test rate for the seven days prior was 9.7%. More than 4.4 million tests have been conducted in Washington. The test numbers reflect only polymerase chain reaction tests, which are administered while the virus is presumably still active in the body.

Cases by county

King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 77,067 cases and 1,233 deaths. Pierce County is second in cases, with 33,488. Snohomish County has the second-highest number of deaths at 484.

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.

There have been more than 25.7 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 432,540 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Thursday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has the highest number of reported cases and deaths of any nation.

More than 2.1 million people have died from the disease worldwide. Global cases exceed 101 million.

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

This story was originally published January 29, 2021 at 1:35 PM.