40% more cases of more contagious COVID variant found in Tri-Cities this week

Two dozen more cases of COVID variants have been detected in the Tri-Cities area over the last week, according to the Washington state Department of Health.

Variants are of concern, in part, because they are more contagious, allowing the virus to spread more easily.

The variant first detected in the United Kingdom is the most common strain among current cases nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.

Public health officials say the growing numbers of the strain in the United States is likely responsible for an uptick in COVID-19 cases.

In the past week the number of UK Variant cases identified in Benton and Franklin counties increased by 40%, with only a small percentage of positive test samples from the two counties put through a complicated genotyping process to determine the type of virus.

Only King, Snohomish and Whatcom have more cases of the UK Variant found since the start of the pandemic than the 13 cases identified in Franklin County. Eight cases have been identified in Benton County.

The UK Variant is of concern because it is about 50% more contagious than the strain most common in the United States when the pandemic started.

The two other variants of concern identified in the Tri-Cities area both originated in California.

One of the California variants is the strain that has been most commonly found in Washington state and the Tri-Cities area among positive test samples that have been genotyped since late 2020.

There have been 870 cases identified statewide, including 83 in the Tri-Cities area, of the B.1.1.429 strain. A second California variant of concern, B.1.427, has been identified 176 times in the state, including 27 cases in the Tri-Cities area.

The known cases of the California variants increased 20% in the Tri-Cities area in a week.

The California variants are believed to be 20% more contagious than the original strain and some COVID treatments may not work as well against them. However, one recent study found that COVID vaccines work well against the California variants, after vaccine effectiveness was an initial concern.

COVID vaccines currently approved for use in the United States also work well against the UK Variant, according to local public health officials.

No South Africa or Brazil variants have been detected in the Tri-Cities area, although they have been detected elsewhere in the state, including South Africa Variant cases in Yakima County.

Tri-Cities COVID cases

The Tri-Cities has 41 more COVID-19 cases confirmed, the Benton Franklin Health District said Thursday.

The new cases bring the average number of cases for the week so far — starting with the weekend — to 31 a day.

That compares to an average of 37 new cases per day last week.

The two-week case rate, which is a key metric for reopening, dropped in both counties as reported on Thursday.

Franklin County had a two-week high of 190 new cases per 100,000 people over two weeks reported Wednesday.

That dropped to 183 new cases per 100,000 as of Thursday.

The case rate needs to be below 200 when the Washington state Department of Health considers on Monday whether counties may remain in Phase 3 of reopening.

Benton County had a two-week new case rate of 131 per 100,000 reported on Thursday.

The number of people hospitalized locally for treatment of COVID-19 increased to 13, up from a low of eight a day earlier, according to Thursday’s Benton Franklin County Health District report.

It is still far below the 62 patients being treated at the start of the year for COVID-19 in hospitals in Benton and Franklin counties.

The 13 patients on Thursday accounted for about 3% of the 403 patients in the Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals.

The new confirmed COVID cases reported on Thursday included 21 in Benton County and 20 in Franklin County.

The Tri-Cities has had 26,839 cases confirmed with positive test results since the start of the pandemic, including 15,394 in Benton county and 11,445 in Franklin County.

The Tri-Cities area has had 307 deaths attributed to complications of COVID-19, including 208 residents of Benton County and 99 residents of Franklin County.

Recent deaths are reported once a week, on Fridays.

Washington state

The Washington state Department of Health reported 1,582 new cases of COVID-19 and seven deaths Wednesday.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are 372,170 cases and 5,306 deaths. Those numbers are up from 370,588 cases and 5,299 deaths Tuesday. The case total includes 24,647 infections listed as probable.

As of March 19, the date with the most recent complete data, 41 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 late March.

Out of the state’s total staffed intensive care unit beds (1,240) approximately 77% (955) were occupied by patients Tuesday. Of those staffed ICU beds, 8.5% (105) held suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients

According to DOH data, King County, with the state’s highest population, continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 93,002 cases and 1,478 deaths. Pierce County, second in population, is second in cases, with 43,842, and second in deaths with 617.

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 30.9 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 559,066 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has the highest total number of reported cases and deaths of any nation.

More than 2.88 million people have died from the disease worldwide. Global cases exceed 132 million.

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

This story was originally published April 8, 2021 at 1:59 PM.