Tri-Cities plays catch up, while more than half of U.S. fully vaccinated against COVID

A third of all people in Benton County are now vaccinated against COVID-19 and a quarter of Franklin County’s population is vaccinated, according to the Washington state Department of Health.

But statewide and nationwide people are more likely to be fully vaccinated against the disease.

In Washington state 45% of all people are fully vaccinated and nationwide more than half of all people, 53%.

However, the percentages for Washington state and the Tri-Cities area do not include people who received their vaccinations through certain federal agencies, such as the Veterans Administration, or Washington residents who received their vaccine in other states.

Gov. Jay Inslee expects to fully open the state at the end of the month, but has said he would do it sooner if 70% of people ages 16 and older initiate vaccination sooner.

In Washington state, that percentage has reached 64%, but Benton and Franklin counties are pulling the percentage down. Just 51% of people 16 and older in Benton County receiving at least an initial dose and just 43% in Franklin County.

Those fully vaccinated ages 16 and older account for 56% of the statewide population, 44% of the Benton County population and 37% of the Franklin County population.

Vaccine sites

The COVID-19 drive-thru testing site in Pasco has increased the days it offers vaccine in addition to testing at Columbia Basin College, 3110 W. Argent Road.

Free vaccine will be offered 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Fridays through Sundays. All three approved brands should be available at the CBC site.

Pop-up vaccine clinics are set this week in Pasco, Benton City and Mesa, all in communities or neighborhoods where demand is high but access is challenging, according to the Benton Franklin Health District.

One includes food giveaway and all will offer the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, which provides options for people ages 12 and older.

The first Pasco pop-up of the week will be 9 a.m.-noon Wednesday at the Pasco Housing Authority, 253 Margaret St., Pasco.

A second one is 9 a.m-1 p.m. Saturday at the HAPO Center soccer complex.

On Sunday, vaccines and food boxes will be given out 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at 1600 N. 20th Ave., Suite D, in Pasco.

The Benton City pop-up is 3-6 p.m. Friday at Hamilton Winery, 55410 N. Sunset Road.

The Mesa clinic is 4-7 p.m. Saturday at the San Juan Diego Mission Catholic Church.

Tri-Cities cases

The Tri-Cities has had 90 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported so far this week, starting with the weekend.

They include 67 cases in Benton County and 23 in Franklin County.

They come to an average of 23 new cases per day for both counties, down from 28 a day last week and equal to the 23 each day reported the week before.

Last week’s numbers may have included some additional older cases as the Washington state Department of Health cleared a backlog of positive test results.

The new cases announced this week bring total cases so far in the Tri-Cities area to 29,097, including 16,781 in Benton County and 12,316 in Franklin County.

As of Tuesday, 24 people were hospitalized locally for treatment of COVID-19. They accounted for 6% of the patients at the Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals.

In the last week of May, just 15 people were hospitalized locally for COVID-19 treatment for most of the week.

On May 29, the most recent date with confirmed testing data, 4% of COVID-19 test results statewide were positive.

The Tri-Cities area rate is higher, with 7% of samples collected at the CBC drive-thru testing site positive from May 17-30.

Washington state

The Washington state Department of Health reported 1,626 new COVID-19 cases and 20 deaths on Monday.

Statewide totals from the illness caused by the coronavirus are 440,889 and 5,856 deaths. Those numbers are up from 439,263 and 5,836 deaths as of Friday. The case total includes 34,969 infections listed as probable.

Washington’s population is estimated at about 7.6 million, according to U.S. Census figures from July 2019.

As of May 30, the date with the most recent complete data, 264 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 were admitted to Washington state hospitals.

For the past seven days, Washington has had a case rate of 54.6 per 100,000 people.

The national rate for the same period was 28 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to DOH data, King County, with the state’s highest population, continues to have the highest numbers in Washington, with 109,349 cases and 1,589 deaths. Pierce County, second in population, is second in cases, with 55,832, and second in deaths, at 706.

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 33.3 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 597,903 deaths from the virus in the United States as of Monday, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has the highest total number of reported cases and deaths of any nation.

More than 3.7 million people have died from the disease worldwide. Global cases exceed 173.4 million.

Lauren Kirschman of The (Tacoma) News Tribune contributed to this report.

This story was originally published June 8, 2021 at 1:10 PM.