Too many positive COVID tests in Tri-Cities compared to WA state, even as new cases fall

Just 37 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the Tri-Cities area on Thursday by the Benton Franklin Health District, down from 56 the day before.

Local public health officials are “guardedly optimistic” that cases are on a steady decline, said Heather Hill, communicable disease supervisor for the Benton Franklin Health District, speaking on the Kadlec on Call podcast.

The cases reported Thursday bring the average daily cases for the week — starting with the weekend — to 56.

That’s down from the 76 cases per day reported last week and 96 the week before.

For the past seven days the Tri-Cities has had an average of 21 cases per day per 100,000 people.

That compares to a case rate of 17.5 daily new cases per 100,000 in Washington state over the past week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday. Seven states were lower.

The national rate for the same period was 32.4 per 100,000. South Carolina has the highest rate in the United States at 62.2. Hawaii is the lowest at 5.

The new cases announced Thursday included 24 in Benton County for a total of 14,197 since the start of the pandemic.

Franklin County had 13 more cases for a total of 10,556 there, or 24,753 for both counties.

The number of residents of the two counties who have died from complications of COVID-19 stands at 270, with the local health district expected to release its weekly update on recent deaths from the disease on Friday.

The Benton Franklin Health District reported that local hospitals were treating 45 patients for COVID as of Thursday, up from 42 the day before. It is below the COVID patient numbers in the 50s and 60s seen on most days in January.

The 45 patients Thursday accounted for 11% of the 408 patients at the Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals, which is close to the state goal of less than 10%.

COVID testing

The Benton Franklin Health District reported that just under 16% of COVID tests done at the free, drive-thru site at Columbia Basin College were positive for the two weeks ending Feb. 6.

It’s a higher positive test rate than reported by the state and does not match the less than 10% goal set by the state as it considers whether the south central region of Washington should advance to Phase 2 of reopening on Monday.

Metrics that also include hospitalization, intensive care unit and case rate information will be considered jointly for Benton, Franklin, Yakima, Walla Walla, Columbia and Kittitas County.

The Washington state Department of Health reported for Jan. 22, the most recent date with confirmed testing data, that 21,994 specimens were collected statewide, with 6.3% testing positive.

The average positive test rate for the seven days prior was 6.6%. More than 4.8 million tests have been conducted in Washington.

About 500 people are being tested each day at the Columbia Basin College drive-thru test site., which is open from 8:30 to 4 p.m. daily.

Preregistration can be done online at bit.ly/Tri-CitiesTesting, but is not required.

The site has recently seen tests come back positive for people who thought their sniffles were the start of seasonal allergies, Hill said.

She encourages anyone be tested if they have possible symptoms or think may have been around someone who was infected.

COVID vaccine

In Benton and Franklin counties, 32,861 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been given and 5,514 people are fully immunized with two doses of the vaccine as of Wednesday.

Currently approved vaccines require two shots for maximum effectiveness.

Statewide 987,682 doses of the COVID-19 vaccines have been administered, according to the Washington state Department of Health.

As of Wednesday, more than 1.3 million doses had been delivered to the state. Of those delivered doses, 72.3% had been administered.

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, 65.9 million doses have been distributed and 44.7 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 1,228 new cases of COVID-19 and 45 deaths on Wednesday.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are 324,706 cases and 4,603 deaths. Those numbers are up from 323,478 cases and 4,558 deaths Tuesday. The case total includes 16,314 cases listed as probable. DOH revises previous case and death counts daily.

As of Jan. 22, the date with the most recent complete data, 82 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 were admitted to Washington state hospitals.

Preliminary reports indicate average daily hospital admissions were 72 in early-February.

Out of the state’s total staffed intensive care unit beds (1,197), approximately 81% (970) were occupied by patients Tuesday. Of those staffed ICU beds, 12.6% (151) held suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients.

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

This story was originally published February 11, 2021 at 1:36 PM.