Tri-Cities area COVID cases top 24,000, but number of daily cases falling

The Tri-Cities area had 214 new confirmed COVID-19 cases over the past three days, the Benton Franklin Health District reported on Monday.

It does not update case counts on the weekend.

The new cases reported Monday averaged 71 per day, which compares to 92 a day reported for the previous weekend.

Last week cases averaged 96 per day, down from an average of 101 cases per day reported the previous week and 152 per day the week before that.

New cases broken out by county were not immediately available Monday after a recent audit switched some previously reported cases from Benton to Franklin county.

If the county where someone lives is unknown, they had been assigned to Benton County by default.

Total cases since the start of the pandemic now stand at 24,088 for the two counties together.

New COVID-19 case rates in Benton and Franklin counties also continue to fall.

Benton County had 451 new cases per 100,000 people during the two weeks ending Jan. 25. That is down from the case rate of 493 reported on Friday.

Franklin County had 518 new cases per 100,000 during the two weeks ending Jan. 25. That is down from the case rate of 561 reported on Friday.

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 number of deaths of Tri-Cities area residents due to complications of COVID-19 remains at 265, including 32 deaths reported in January and 36 in December.

The Benton Franklin Health District reports recent deaths on Fridays.

The number of people hospitalized locally for treatment of COVID-19 dropped to 49, as reported Monday by the local health district.

That’s down one from Friday. Local COVID patient counts had been in the 50s and 60s all of January, with the exception of 47 reported last Thursday.

The 49 COVID patients reported Monday accounted for just under 12% of the 414 patients in the Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals.

Vaccines

In Benton and Franklin counties, 20,072 COVID vaccinations had been given as of Friday, according to the Washington state Department of Health.

The number of people in the two counties who have received both shots is 3,228. Currently approved vaccines require two shots for maximum effectiveness.

According to DOH, 616,589 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Washington.

As of Friday, 853,325 doses had been delivered to state providers and 130,650 had been delivered for the CDC’s long-term care vaccination program. Of those delivered doses, 62.6% had been administered.

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, 50 million doses have been distributed and 31.1 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 on Saturday reported 1,796 new confirmed cases of COVID-19. The department is no longer reporting deaths on weekends.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are at 311,597 cases and 4,285 deaths, up from 309,801 cases on Friday. The case total includes 14,084 cases listed as probable. DOH revises previous case and death counts daily.

King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 78,010 cases and 1,242 deaths. Snohomish has the second most deaths with 489.

After King County, those with the most cases are Pierce, Spokane, Snohomish, Yakima, Clark, Benton and Franklin counties. If Benton and Franklin counties were considered together, they would rank fifth for cases.

Three counties in Washington have fewer than 100 cases — Columbia, San Juan and Wahkiakum.

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

This story was originally published February 1, 2021 at 2:00 PM.