COVID infections and hospitalization trends promising for Tri-Cities

The number of people hospitalized locally for treatment of COVID-19 dropped below 30 as of Monday for the first time in more than three months.

The decrease comes as the number of new cases diagnosed also continues to drop.

The Benton Franklin Health District announced 117 more confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Tri-Cities area on Monday.

The total was for three days, with new cases last announced on Friday, putting the average number of new cases each day at 39.

Last week new cases averaged 46 per day, which was down from an average of 64 new cases a day the previous week.

The Franklin County new case rate dropped to 333 new cases per 100,000 people for the two weeks ending Feb. 15. That was down from a case rate of 406 announced on Friday.

There is a lag in the weeks considered for the new case rate because cases are backdated to when the samples were collected.

The Benton County new case rate dropped to 242 new cases per 100,000 for the two weeks ending Feb. 15. That was down from a case rate of 275 announced on Friday.

The new cases announced Monday included 69 in Benton County and 48 in Franklin County for the three-day period.

They bring total cases confirmed by positive test results since the start of the pandemic to 25,295, including 14,475 in Benton County and 10,820 in Franklin County.

Local residents who have died of complications of COVID-19 include 195 in Benton County and 91 in Franklin County.

The local health district announced recent deaths once a week, on Fridays.

The 28 people hospitalized locally for COVID-19 treatment as of Monday accounted for just 7% of the 387 patients in the Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals.

The percentage easily meets the Washington state recommendation of less than 10% COVID patients in hospitals to ensure adequate capacity.