Tri-Cities COVID trends moving in the right direction ahead of WA state reopening check

The number of new cases of COVID-19 is continuing to drop from what appears to be the recent peak of the fourth wave of infection in the Tri-Cities.

The number of people hospitalized for treatment of the disease also dropped significantly as of Monday.

The Tri-Cities has 76 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, the Benton Franklin Health District said.

With new cases last reported before the weekend, it makes an average of 25 new cases per day.

That’s down from the average of 37 new cases each day reported the previous weekend and 45 new cases per day on average the weekend before that.

New case rates over two weeks also are dropping in both Benton and Franklin counties.

The Washington state Department of Health will look at new case rates May 18 when it evaluates whether Benton and Franklin counties may remain in Phase 3 of reopening.

It wants to see a new case rate below 200 per 100,000 people over two weeks.

Benton County’s two-week case rate dropped to 187 cases per 100,000 people over two weeks, as calculated Monday by the Benton Franklin Health district. That’s down from a case rate of 213 as reported at the end of April

Franklin County’s two-week case rate dropped to 277 per 100,000 over two weeks. That’s down from 308 as reported Friday and 311 at the end of April.

The state Department of Health also will consider the number of people admitted to area hospitals for COVID treatment when it considers the reopening phase for the two counties next week.

Although data on hospital admissions is not routinely available for Benton and Franklin counties, the total number of people hospitalized for COVID treatment is trending downward.

The local health district said 13 people were being treated for COVID-19 at hospitals in the two counties as of Monday, down from 20 on Friday and 32 on Wednesday.

The 13 COVID patients on Monday accounted for 3.5% of the 372 patients in the Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals.

In the two counties a total of 74,736 people have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. Total doses administered numbered 169,867 as of Friday.

The Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines require two doses to be fully effective.

The 76 new cases reported community-wide Monday include 51 in Benton County and 25 in Franklin County.

They bring total cases confirmed with positive test results since the start of the pandemic to 28,313 in the Tri-Cities area.

They include 16,272 cases reported in Benton County and 12,041 in Franklin County.

Since the start of the pandemic 320 Tri-Cities area residents have died from complications of COVID-19, including 215 Benton County residents and 105 Franklin County residents.

This story was originally published May 10, 2021 at 12:58 PM.