Some good COVID news. But will Tri-Cities blow it with grad parties and Mother’s Day?

The recent increase in new COVID-19 cases in the Tri-Cities may have peaked.

“We are cautiously optimistic that it is trending down,” as the number of people vaccinated against the coronavirus increases, said Heather Hill, infectious disease supervisor for the Benton Franklin Health District, speaking on the Kadlec on Call podcast this week.

The number of new cases reported so far this week, starting with the weekend, have averaged 40 per day, down from an average of 52 per day last week and 54 the previous week.

In other good news, the Benton Franklin Health District reported a sharp drop in the number of patients being treated for COVID-19 at area hospitals on Thursday.

But public health officials are concerned about the large gatherings of young people for graduation and end-of-school celebrations they are starting to hear about, which could result in the spread of the virus, she said.

The Tri-Cities area needs to keep new cases down or could revert to Phase 2 of reopening in two weeks, with fewer people allowed in restaurants, bars, stores, theaters and fitness centers.

Had Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday not paused changes to the state’s reopening program for two weeks, at least Benton County would have been pushed back to Phase 2 of reopening, Hill said.

“We lucked out,” she said. “Our data was not looking good for us remaining in Phase 3.”

Now the Tri-Cities area has until about May 18 to meet state standards set for the rate of new COVID cases and people being admitted to hospitals for treatment of COVID to show it has COVID under control. Counties must meet one of the two requirements to remain in their current phase of reopening.

Any change in phases likely would occur on May 22.

“The more that we can get vaccinated, the better off we will be and we will see less cases,” she said.

Mother’s Day weekend also is coming up, which led to a spike in cases last May.

“Your personal choices really do effect what happens to our kids in schools, our businesses,” she said. “We do want our businesses to stay open, to not have a rollback.”

On Mother’s Day fully vaccinated people can meet with other vaccinated people and even a few unvaccinated people if the gathering is outside, she said.

People are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after their second dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine or two weeks after a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Tri-Cities COVID cases

The Tri-Cities has 42 new COVID-19 cases, the Benton Franklin Health District reported on Thursday.

The Benton County new case rate dropped under the limit set by the Washington state Department of Health for counties to remain in Phase 3 of reopening.

It had 198 new cases per 100,000 people over two weeks. The state wants to see fewer than 200 new cases per 100,000 people in two weeks.

However, Franklin County remains far above that case rate limit.

The local health district said Franklin County’s case rate is 317 new cases per 100,000 people over two weeks, as of Thursday. Its new case rate this week is higher than seen since late February.

The Benton Franklin Health District reported three COVID outbreaks in business this week with seven pending investigations.

There also was one outbreak in a health care setting, but no outbreaks in schools, childcare centers or long term care facilities for the elderly.

Tri-Cities hospital cases

The number of people hospitalized locally for treatment of COVID-19 dropped from 32 as reported on Wednesday to 24 on Thursday, according to the Benton Franklin Health District.

The 24 COVID patients account for 5.8% of all patients at the Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals.

The 42 new cases reported community wide on Thursday include 30 in Benton County and 16 in Franklin County.

They bring total cases confirmed with positive test results since the start of the pandemic to 28,201 in the Tri-Cities area.

They include 16,201 cases reported in Benton County and 12,000 in Franklin County.

Since the start of the pandemic 318 Tri-Cities area residents who have died from complications of COVID-19, including 214 residents of Benton County and 104 of Franklin County.

Washington state

The Washington state Department of Health on Wednesday reported 1,597 new COVID-19 cases and 11 deaths.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are 409,933 cases and 5,539 deaths. The case total includes 30,833 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.

The (Tacoma) News Tribune contributed to this report.

This story was originally published May 6, 2021 at 1:16 PM.