11 new COVID deaths in the Tri-Cities area. One year toll tops 300

The number of people who have died of COVID-19 in the Tri-Cities area has topped 300.

The Benton Franklin Health District reported 11 more recent deaths from the disease on Friday to bring the total since the start of the pandemic to 303.

The first Tri-Cities resident died nearly a year ago on the second weekend of March 2020.

Local public health officials verify that deaths were due to COVID-19 complications by checking for a positive COVID test result and that COVID-19 was named as a primary cause of death on the death certificate. Deaths are reported once a week, on Fridays.

So far this month, 15 deaths were reported.

In December and January reported deaths averaged a little over one each day, but they dropped to 22 last month.

However, the number of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 locally has fallen, giving hope that the number of additional deaths also will be declining.

Those who died most recently ranged in age from their 60s to their 90s.

Eight lived in Benton County. They included two men and one woman in their 60s; a man in his 70s; a man in his 80s; and two women and a man in their 90s.

The three Franklin County residents who died were a man in his 60s, a woman in her 70s and a man in his 90s.

The total local deaths due to COVID include 206 residents of Benton County and 97 of Franklin County.

The Benton Franklin Health District no longer reports whether people had underlying health conditions that put them at risk of a severe case of COVID-19. Privacy laws for death certificates changed at the start of 2021.

Tri-Cities cases

The Tri-Cities area had 23 new confirmed cases of COVID reported on Friday by the Benton Franklin Health District.

That’s down from 42 on Thursday and brings the average number of confirmed new cases for the week — starting with the weekend — to 31 per day.

That continues the downward trend in cases in most recent weeks. The previous week cases averaged 45 per day. In the weeks before that average new daily cases had dropped from 94 to 76 to 64 to 46 and then 43.

The number of new cases for the past seven days comes to an average of 72 per 100,000 per day for the two counties.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday reported an average of 64 new cases per 100,000 people for the state of Washington over seven days, and a new case rate of more than double that at 142 for the United States.

The two week case rate as calculated for the Roadmap to Recovery reopening plan in Washington state must be below 200 as of April 12 for Benton and Franklin counties to remain in Phase 3 of reopening.

Franklin County had 244 new cases per 100,000 people for the two weeks ending March 5 and will need to lower its case rate to avoid dropping back to Phase 2. There is a lag in the weeks reported because new cases are backdated to the day a person was tested.

The latest case rate for Benton County easily meets the case rate goal of below 200. It had 140 new cases per 100,000 people for the two weeks ending March 5.

On March 22, all counties in the state will automatically advance to Phase 3, but they will be re-evaluated in three weeks to determine if they meet new case rate and hospitalization admission goals to stay there. In Phase 3, businesses such as gyms, restaurants and movie theaters are allowed to operate at 50% of capacity.

Hospital cases

Hospitals in Benton and Franklin counties were treating 14 patients for COVID-19 on Friday, according to the local health district.

That is up from 11 patients the day before, but a big drop from the 74 patients reported at the end of December.

The 14 patients Friday accounted for just under 4% of the 378 patients in the Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals.

The 23 newly confirmed cases in the Tri-Cities area reported on Friday included 17 in Benton County and six in Franklin County.

They bring the total cases confirmed by positive test results since the start of the pandemic to 25,966, including 14,859 in Benton County and 11,107 in Franklin County.

This story was originally published March 12, 2021 at 1:52 PM.