Hospitals see spike in COVID patients, but new Tri-Cities cases continue to drop

The Tri-Cities area has had 171 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 over the past two days, according to the Benton Franklin Health District on Wednesday.

A computer issue delayed the report of many of Tuesday’s new cases until Wednesday.

While the number of new cases has been on a downward trend, the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 was up on Wednesday.

The newly reported cases average about 86 per day for Tuesday and Wednesday, up from an average of 71 cases per day for the weekend and Monday.

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.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracks a rolling seven day average of cases per 100,000 people.

For the past seven days in Benton and Franklin counties, cases per day have averaged 29 cases per 100,000.

The state has averaged 21 new cases per 100,000 over the seven days reported through Tuesday. Seven states reported lower case rates.

The national rate for the same period was 43.4 cases per day per 100,000, according to the CDC.

Texas has the highest rate in the United States at 71.7. Hawaii is the lowest at 6.3.

Tri-Cities case rate

The state of Washington tracks a rolling 14-day case rate per 100,000, with the rate including cases on all days backdated to when a COVID-19 test was administered.

Benton and Franklin’s 14-day case rates have been trending downward in recent weeks.

Benton County had 420 new cases total per 100,000 people for the two weeks ending Jan. 27. That’s down from the case rate of 436 reported on Tuesday. Two-week case rates had been as high as the 800s for part of December.

Franklin County had 514 new cases per 100,000 for the two weeks ending Jan. 27. That’s up slightly from the case rate of 507 reported on Tuesday. Two-week case rates had been over 1,000 for part of December.

The new cases reported in the last two days in the Tri-Cities area included 93 in Benton County and 78 in Franklin County.

They bring total Tri-Cities area cases confirmed with a positive COVID-19 test since the start of the pandemic to 24,259, including 13,897 in Benton County and 10,362 in Franklin County.

Hospitalizations, deaths

The number of people hospitalized locally for treatment of COVID-19 increased to 57, as reported Wednesday. Benton and Franklin county hospitals had been treating 49 patients for COVID the previous two days.

On most days in January, COVID patient counts at local hospitals were in the 50s and 60s.

The 57 COVID-19 patients reported Wednesday account for nearly 14% of all patients at the hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser.

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.

Washington state

The Washington state Department of Health reported 1,236 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday. Due to data processing problems, the state was unable to update deaths.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are 314,692 cases and 4,316 deaths. Those numbers are up from 313,456 cases and down from 4,318 deaths Monday. The case total includes 14,674 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. 14, the date with the most recent complete data, 84 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 were admitted to Washington state hospitals.

Preliminary reports indicate average daily hospital admissions were 78 in late-January.

Out of the state’s total staffed intensive care unit beds (1,208), approximately 79.5% (960) were occupied by patients Tuesday. Of those staffed ICU beds, 16.1% (194) held suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients.

On Jan. 14, the most recent date with confirmed testing data, 23,925 specimens were collected statewide, with 8.5% testing positive.

Cases by county

King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 78,678 cases and 1,250 deaths. Pierce County is second in cases, with 34,500. Snohomish County has the second-highest number of deaths at 490.

After Pierce, counties with the most cases were Spokane, Snohomish, Yakima, Clark, Benton and Franklin counties.

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

This story was originally published February 3, 2021 at 2:16 PM.