Tri-Cities area man in his 20s dies of COVID. Spike in new local cases

A Tri-Cities area man in his 20s has died from complications of COVID-19, the Benton Franklin Health District reported Friday.

It was the only recent death reported this week by the local health district.

Public health officials also reported a spike in new local cases on Friday, as cases also have increased statewide.

The COVID death reported on Friday was the first of a person in their 20s in the Tri-Cities area. The man was a resident of Benton County.

Previously the youngest deaths were two girls under 20 and a man in his 30s.

The recent death reported Friday brings the total for Benton and Franklin counties to 307 since the start of the pandemic, including 208 in Benton County and 99 in Franklin County.

That’s about one death for every thousand people in each county.

The deaths included seven people in their 40s, 26 people in their 50s, 57 people in their 60s, 85 people in their 70s and 128 people 80 or older.

The number of deaths reported has dropped since December and January when the health district was reporting an average of more than one COVID death a day.

But as more people have received COVID vaccinations, that dropped to 22 recent deaths reported in February and 18 in March. The local health district reports COVID deaths once a week, on Fridays.

The health district has not reported whether those who died had underlying health conditions that put them at risk of a severe case of COVID-19 since the first of the year. A new privacy law covering death certificates took effect then.

Local public health officials verify that the deaths are due to COVID complications by checking for a positive test result and that a coronavirus infection was named as a primary cause of death on the death certificate.

Tri-Cities cases

The number of new confirmed cases in the Tri-Cities jumped by 58, according to the Benton Franklin Health District on Friday.

It is the most reported on a single day in about a month.

The new cases bring the average number of cases per day to 37, after daily cases had averaged 31 or 32 in the previous three weeks.

Cases in the state of Washington also are on the rise, with the Centers for Disease Control reporting that its seven-day new case rate has jumped to 92 cases per 100,000 people. That is up from 75 a week ago.

The most recent seven-day case rate calculated with data from the Benton Franklin Health District is lower than the Washington state rate at 87 cases per 100,000 people.

New two-week case rates for both Benton and Franklin counties currently are within the range needed to stay in Phase 3 of reopening.

The Washington state Department of Health will next evaluate case rates for reopening on April 12, looking for fewer than 200 cases in each county per 100,000 over two weeks.

There is a lag in the weeks considered as new cases are backdated to when samples were collected that later tested positive.

Franklin County’s most recent rate is 161 new cases per 100,000 for the two weeks ending March 26.

Benton County’s most recent rate is 128 new cases per 100,000 for the same two weeks.

The new cases reported Friday included 40 in Benton County for a total of 15,269 cases confirmed with positive test results since the start of the pandemic.

Franklin County had 18 new cases reported Friday for a total of 11,386 cases confirmed since the start of the pandemic.

Together the two counties have had 26,655 confirmed cases.

The number of local patients being treated for COVID-19 jumped to 22 as reported Thursday but was back down to 15 as reported Friday.

They accounted for 3.5% of the 432 patients in the Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals.

The number of daily COVID patients in all Benton and Franklin county hospitals have ranged over the past 31 days from as few as 12 to as many as 24.

Washington state

The Washington state Department of Health reported 1,369 new cases of COVID-19 and 15 deaths Thursday. The case count represents a high not seen since early February.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are 365,762 cases and 5,262 deaths. Those numbers are up from 364,393 cases and 5,247 deaths Wednesday. The case total includes 23,493 infections 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 March 13, the date with the most recent complete data, 39 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 were admitted to Washington state hospitals.

Preliminary reports indicate average daily hospital admissions were slightly increasing at 37 in mid-March.

Out of the state’s total staffed intensive care unit beds (1,235) approximately 78.3% (967) were occupied by patients Wednesday. Of those staffed ICU beds, 10% (124) held suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients. That number is trending up.

Cases by county

According to DOH data, King County continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 91,104 cases and 1,468 deaths.

Pierce County is second in cases, with 42,724, and has the second-highest number of deaths, at 610.

All counties in Washington have at least 100 cases. Only 11 of the state’s 39 counties have case counts of fewer than 1,000.

There have been more than 30.5 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 553,042 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has the highest total number of reported cases and deaths of any nation.

More than 2.82 million people have died from the disease worldwide. Global cases exceed 129 million.

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

This story was originally published April 2, 2021 at 1:53 PM.