Tri-Cities COVID case rate keeps dropping. New infections similar to November

The new case rate for COVID-19 in the Tri-Cities area continues to drop.

The Benton Franklin Health District reported case rates on Tuesday that were in line with those reported about Nov. 16 for both Benton and Franklin counties.

Benton County had 436 cases per 100,000 people for the two weeks ending Jan. 26. That’s down from the case rate of 451 reported on Monday. Case rates were as high as 719 in January.

Franklin County had 507 cases per 100,000 for the two weeks ending Jan. 26. That’s down from a case rate of 518 reported the day before. Case rates were as high as 852 in January.

There is a delay in the weeks considered for case rates because cases are back dated to the day when test samples were collected that then had a positive result.

For the past seven days, Washington had an average of 21 cases per day per 100,000 people. Eight other states were lower.

The Tri-Cities area has recently had about 24 cases per day per 100,000.

The national rate for the same period was 43.7 cases per day per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

No reliable new case totals were available on Tuesday for the Tri-Cities area, due to a malfunction of the local health district’s and the state Department of Health’s shared data system on Monday afternoon. Only a partial number was listed.

For the previous three days, cases had averaged about 71 per day.

Recent Tri-Cities area deaths due to complications of COVID-19 are released once a week, on Fridays. The death tally for Benton and Franklin counties stands at 265 since the start of the pandemic.

The number of patients being treated for COVID-19 in Tri-Cities hospitals remained at 49 for a second day.

The four area hospitals had reported combined COVID patient numbers in the 50s and 60s for all but one day in January.

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

The number of staff and residents of long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes, with positive COVID-19 test results from the start of the pandemic increased to 808 on Tuesday, up from 802 at the end of January.

COVID vaccine

In Benton and Franklin counties, 23,451 shots of the COVID-19 vaccine had been given as of Monday, according to the Washington state Department of Health.

To date 3,612 people in the two counties have received both doses. Currently approved vaccines require two shots for maximum effectiveness.

In Washington state 728,636 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered, with more than 1 million doses had been delivered to the state. Of those delivered doses, 70.7% 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, 49.9 million doses have been distributed and 32.2 million shots of the approved vaccines have been given, according to CDC statistics. The population of the United States is about 328 million.

Washington state

The Washington state Department of Health reported 851 new cases of COVID-19 Monday and 33 deaths since Friday.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are 313,335 cases and 4,318 deaths. Those numbers are up from 312,484 cases Sunday and 4,285 deaths Friday. The case total includes 14,237 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. 13, the date with the most recent complete data, 92 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 were admitted to Washington state hospitals.

Preliminary reports indicate average daily hospital admissions were 85 in late-January.

Out of the state’s total staffed intensive care unit beds (1,229), approximately 81% (995) were occupied by patients Monday. Of those staffed ICU beds, 15.7% (193) held suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients.

On Jan. 13, the most recent date with confirmed testing data, 23,493 specimens were collected statewide, with 7.9% testing positive.

The average positive test rate for the seven days prior was 8.4%. More than 4.5 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 78,389 cases and 1,252 deaths. Pierce County is second in cases, with 34,287. Snohomish County has the second-highest number of deaths at 490.

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

There have been more than 26.2 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 443,035 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Monday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has the highest number of reported cases and deaths of any nation.

More than 2.2 million people have died from the disease worldwide. Global cases exceed 103 million.

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