More COVID deaths in Tri-Cities area. Vaccination rates lag the state

Three more Tri-Cities area residents have died recently from complications of COVID-19, the Benton Franklin Health District announced Friday.

They bring deaths reported this month to nine, continuing a decline as more people are vaccinated.

In April, the local health district reported 12 deaths from the disease, down from 18 in March and 22 in February.

The most recent deaths include a Benton County woman in her 70s and two Franklin County men in their 60s.

The latest deaths bring the total since the start of the pandemic to 327, including 218 Benton County residents and 109 Franklin County residents.

The deaths include 135 people 80 or older; 90 in their 70s; 63 in their 60s; 26 in their 50s; nine 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.

Tri-Cities area deaths are announced weekly, on Fridays.

Tri-Cities COVID cases

The Benton Franklin Health District said midweek that new cases had dropped to a level not seen since September.

The Tri-Cities area had 23 new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported on Friday, down from 32 on Thursday and 28 on Wednesday.

They bring total new confirmed cases for the week, starting with the weekend, to 162, including 106 in Benton County and 56 in Franklin County.

The average number of new cases per day has fallen to 23.

That is down from 28 new cases on average per day the previous week and 30 the week before that.

A total of 28,808 Tri-Cities area cases have been reported since the pandemic began.

Despite the drop in new cases, there continue to be outbreaks of the disease.

The local health district said in its weekly report released Wednesday that the two counties had five current business outbreaks with three pending business investigations; one long term care facility outbreak with an investigation pending and one school outbreak with three investigations pending.

The number of people hospitalized locally for treatment of COVID-19 increased to 17 on Friday, up two from the number reported since Monday.

The 17 COVID-19 patients accounted for 4.3% of all Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospital patients.

COVID vaccine

Benton and Franklin counties are both lagging Washington state as a whole for getting people 16 and older vaccinated.

Gov. Jay Inslee expects the state to fully reopen June 30, but it could be sooner if 70% of people ages 16 and older have at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by then.

Teens ages 12-15 in Washington state also are eligible to be vaccinated as of May 12, but the governor did not include them in the early reopening goal he set since they have had limited time yet to get a shot.

In Washington state, 61% of people ages 16 and older have initiated vaccination and 51% are fully vaccinated.

That drops to 48% of Benton County residents 16 and older who have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 41% who are fully vaccinated.

In Franklin County just 40% of residents 16 and older have received at least one dose and just 33% are fully vaccinated.

Franklin County is among eight of the 39 counties in the state with the lowest vaccination rates, all but one of them in Eastern Washington.

The drive-thru vaccination clinic at the Tri-Cities fairgrounds was wrapping up its last day on Friday before dismantling the site, as the vaccine becomes widely available in the Tri-Cities.

Public health officials are hoping to encourage people who have not sought out the vaccine yet to get a shot by making it as convenient as possible.

The drive-thru COVID-19 testing site at Columbia Basin College in Pasco is expected to expand the days that it gives free vaccinations in addition to testing.

Now shots are available at 3110 W. Argent Road in Pasco from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays.

Many pharmacies will give the shots to walk-in patients, some doctor’s offices now give the vaccine and pop-up clinics have been held at busy places such as the Pasco Farmers Market. In addition, mobile clinics are visiting job sites, including for agriculture and food processing workers.

To find more places with vaccine available, go to vaccinelocator.doh.wa.gov and enter your zip code.

This story was originally published May 28, 2021 at 2:39 PM.