3 more COVID deaths in Tri-Cities area as new case rates continue to rise

Three more people have died from complications of COVID-19 in the Tri-Cities area, the youngest in his 40s.

The deaths come as the number of new cases and people hospitalized for treatment of COVID-19 continue to climb.

The recent deaths included a Franklin County man in his 40s, a Benton County man in his 60s and a Franklin County woman in her 80s.

They bring recent COVID-19 deaths reported so far this month by the Benton Franklin Health District to seven.

That’s down from 18 deaths reported in March and 22 in February, as more people are vaccinated against the coronavirus.

There have been 313 local deaths from complications of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, including 211 in Benton County and 102 in Franklin County.

They include 129 people 80 or older; 88 in their 70s; 58 in their 60s; 26 in their 50s; eight in their 40s; one each in their 30s and 20s; and two people younger than 20.

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.

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.

The local health district reports recent COVID-19 deaths once a week, on Fridays.

Tri-Cities cases

The Tri-Cities had 64 more confirmed cases of COVID-19 announced Friday, as the state of Washington has entered what appears to be its fourth wave of infection.

The 64 cases bring new cases for the week — starting with the weekend — to an average of 54 per day.

That is above the average of 48 Tri-Cities area cases per day reported last week, and 34 new cases per day reported the week before.

The Washington state Department of Health wants to see a case rate of fewer than 200 cases per 100,000 people over two weeks when it considers on May 3 whether Benton and Franklin counties are allowed to stay in Phase 3 of reopening.

But case rates in the two counties climbed again on Friday.

The Benton Franklin Health District reported that Benton County had 187 new cases per 100,000 over two weeks, up from the rate of 182 announced the day before.

It is the highest new case rate since the first two days of March.

Franklin County had 259 new cases per 100,000 over two weeks, a case rate also not seen since the first two days of March. Its new case rate jumped from 236 reported on Thursday.

The counties must fail the state case rate standard and also have too many new admissions of COVID patients in hospitals to be rolled back to Phase 2 of reopening after the next state evaluation.

The Benton Franklin Health District reported 21 people hospitalized locally for treatment of COVID-19 as of Friday, up one from the day before.

There have not been as many COVID patients being treated at local hospitals since April 1.

The 21 COVID patients Friday accounted for 5.5% of the 385 patients at the Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals.

COVID outbreaks

In the past week there have been five COVID outbreaks linked to businesses and seven investigations are pending.

There also has been an outbreak at a long-term care facility.

The Benton Franklin Health District initially reported nine more cases in staff or residents of long-term care facilities for the elderly in Benton and Franklin counties, but later reduced the number to five cases.

There have been no outbreaks and no pending investigations at schools and childcare centers.

The new cases reported Friday included 36 in Benton County and 28 in Franklin County, which has about half as many people.

They bring total cases confirmed with positive test results since the start of the pandemic to 27,600.

They include 15,841 cases in Benton County and 11,759 in Franklin County.

This story was originally published April 23, 2021 at 1:23 PM.