5 more die of COVID in Tri-Cities area, as new daily cases continue rising

Five more Tri-Cities area residents have died of complications of COVID-19, the youngest in her 50s, the Benton Franklin Health District said Friday.

The deaths come as the number of new daily cases this week is up substantially and the rate of positive test results at the Tri-Cities drive-thru COVID-19 testing center also has increased.

The recent deaths announced Friday bring total deaths this month due to infection with the coronavirus to six.

There were 12 deaths reported in June and nine in May. The local health district announces recent deaths once a week, on Fridays.

The most recent deaths include two women who lived in Benton County, one in her 50s and one in her 60s.

Recent deaths in Franklin County include a woman in her 70s, a man in his 70s and a woman in her 80s.

Tri-Cities area COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic include 137 people who were 80 or older; 95 in their 70s; 70 in their 60s; 28 in their 50s; 11 in their 40s; one each in their 30s and 20s; and two people younger than 20, by the Tri-City Herald’s count.

Since the start of the pandemic, 345 Tri-Cities area residents have died due to infection with the coronavirus, including 229 Benton County residents and 116 Franklin County residents.

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.

In all of Washington state 5,986 deaths due to the coronavirus have been reported since the start of the pandemic through Thursday.

Of the people who have died, just 44 were known to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and at least 27 of them lived in long-term care facilities for the elderly, according to the latest state report on vaccination breakthrough cases issued July 7.

Tri-Cities COVID cases

New confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Tri-Cities area averaged 46 per day over the past week, starting with the weekend, in Benton and Franklin counties.

That is up from 32 per day last week and 31 the previous week.

Daily new cases skyrocketed to 95 reported by the Benton Franklin Health District on Thursday, possibly the result of a backlog of testing after the drive-thru testing site at Columbia Basin College was closed for two days for the Independence Day holiday.

On Friday, 56 new COVID-19 cases were reported, including 39 in Benton County residents and 17 in Franklin County residents.

Total Tri-Cities area cases since the start of the pandemic total 30,123, including 17,483 in Benton County and 12,640 in Franklin County.

Statewide cases total 454,650.

At the free drive-thru testing site at Columbia Basin College in Pasco, the rate of positive test results increased to 12.2%, as announced Friday. That’s up from a rate of 11.2% for the previous week.

Statewide the positive test rate was 2.2% on June 29, which was the most recent data available from the Washington state Department of Health.

The number of people hospitalized locally for treatment of COVID-19 continues to be higher than in the spring, when numbers were in the teens.

As of Friday, the Benton Franklin Health District said 25 patients were hospitalized locally for COVID-19 treatment, with the count all week at 24 to 25.

The 25 patients on Friday accounted for 6.3% of the 397 patients in the Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals.

This story was originally published July 9, 2021 at 11:23 AM.