Just 1 new COVID death reported in Tri-Cities this week

Just one recent death was reported from complications of COVID-19 in the Tri-Cities area this week.

He was a Franklin County man in his 50s, said health officials.

It is a significant drop from the pace of about one death a day for the first three weeks of the month, as reported by the Benton Franklin Health District.

It reports deaths confirmed to be caused by the coronavirus once a week, on Fridays.

Public health officials check for a positive COVID-19 test result and for a death certificate that lists COVID-19 as a primary cause of death. Some recent deaths remain under review.

No information was released on whether the Franklin County man had underlying health conditions that put him at risk of a severe case of COVID-19.

His death brings the total local deaths announced in February to 22, down from 32 in January and 36 in December.

Tri-Cities area COVID deaths from the start of the pandemic now total 287, including 195 Benton County residents and 92 Franklin County residents.

Tri-Cities cases

The Benton Franklin Health District announced 38 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Friday.

They bring the number of cases for the week — starting with the past weekend — to an average of 43 a day.

For the past seven days, there have been an average of 14 new cases per day per 100,000 people in the Tri-Cities area.

Washington state, with a downward trending case rate, has had an average of 11 cases per day per 100,000 over seven days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday.

The national rate for the same period was 20 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Three states had lower new case rates than Washington. New Jersey had the highest rate in the United States at 33. Hawaii is the lowest at 4.

New case rates as figured for Benton and Franklin counties over two weeks by the Washington state Department of Health also continue to drop.

Benton County had 224 new cases per 100,000 people reported in the two weeks through Feb. 19. Cases are back-dated to when test samples were collected, creating a lag in the weeks used for the calculation.

That is less than half the case rate reported at the end of January of 493 new cases per 100,000.

Franklin County had 277 new cases per 100,000 reported in the two weeks through Feb. 19.

That is also less than half the case rate reported at the end of January of 561 cases per 100,000.

Hospital cases

Local hospitals were treating 29 patients for COVID-19 as of Friday.

That’s down from 50 at the end of January.

The 29 COVID patients on Friday accounted for 7% of the 409 patients at the Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals.

The Benton Franklin Health District reported that 826 staff and residents of long-term care homes, such as nursing homes, have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

The most recent 24 were reported in February.

The new COVID cases reported for the Tri-Cities area on Friday were evenly split between Benton and Franklin counties, with 19 in each.

Benton County has now had 14,583 cases of COVID-19 confirmed by positive test results and Franklin County has had 10,893. The total for both counties is 25,476.

Washington state

The Washington state Department of Health reported 1,117 new cases of COVID-19 and 30 deaths from the disease Thursday.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are 337,653 cases and 4,942 deaths. Those numbers are up from 336,356 cases and 4,912 deaths Wednesday. The case total includes 18,155 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 Feb. 6, the date with the most recent complete data, 55 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 were admitted to Washington state hospitals.

Preliminary reports indicate that average daily hospital admissions were downward trending to 48 in mid-February.

Out of the state’s total staffed intensive care unit beds (1,202) approximately 78.8% (947) were occupied by patients Tuesday. Of those staffed ICU beds, 12.6% (152) held suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients.

County numbers

According to DOH data, King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 83,611 cases and 1,390 deaths. Pierce County is second in cases, with 37,827. Spokane County has the second-highest number of deaths, at 556.

Following Pierce for number of cases is Spokane, Snohomish, Yakima, Clark, Benton and Franklin counties. If Benton and Franklin counties were considered together, they would rank sixth, after Yakima County.

All counties in Washington have cases. Only 12 of the state’s 39 counties have case counts of fewer than 1,000.

There have been more than 28.4 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 508,088 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Thursday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has the highest number of reported cases and deaths of any nation.

More than 2.5 million people have died from the disease worldwide. Global cases exceed 112 million.

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

This story was originally published February 26, 2021 at 2:05 PM.