COVID patients flooding into swamped Tri-Cities hospitals. New cases swelling

Tri-Cities area hospitals have been treating as many as 104 COVID patients at a time this week, after doctors said last week that patient counts as high as 80 were overwhelming hospitals.

The local hospitals’ COVID-19 patient count reported to the Benton Franklin Health District was 104 on Monday and 99 on Tuesday.

At the peak of the pandemic last winter, hospitals reported a high count of 74 COVID patients hospitalized at the end of December.

“Over the last year and a half as we’ve seen case counts and hospitalizations rise, as a community we have always managed to pull back from the brink of overwhelming our hospitals and health care systems — until now,” Dr. Amy Person, health officer for Benton and Franklin counties, said at a recent news briefing.

Patients are being held in the emergency department until a bed opens up to allow them to be admitted, and waits to see an emergency department doctor are longer.

In addition, hospitals are more often telling first responders that they are too busy to see more patients and asking ambulances to divert to a different local hospital, if possible.

On Monday and Tuesday, COVID patients accounted for 25% to 26% of all patients at the Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals.

Washington state strain

The Washington state Department of Health said in a news release Friday that hospital and health care facilities across the state “are under immense and increasing strain.”

Not only are the number of people needing hospitalization for COVID-19 and other issues after some delayed care during the pandemic, but a shortage of staff across the state has limited the number of available beds.

Hospital admissions are increasing for all ages of adults, the state Department of Health said, with 95% of people hospitalized for COVID-19 treatment since February not fully vaccinated.

“Vaccination progress is continuing, but not fast enough,” said Dr. Umair Shah, Washington state secretary of health. “If you are unvaccinated and continue to have questions, we encourage you to speak to a trusted healthcare provider.”

People who are not vaccinated are required to wear face masks in indoor public places, including stores, and vaccinated people are strongly encouraged to resume wearing masks indoors if they may come into contact with unvaccinated people.

Tri-Cities COVID cases

New daily cases of COVID-19 confirmed by positive test results are surging, both in the state and in the Tri-Cities area.

New daily cases reported since the start of the weekend are averaging 212 per day in Benton and Franklin counties, in line with an average of 203 new daily cases reported the previous week.

Benton County had its highest two-week new case rate of the pandemic reported on Tuesday.

It had 826 new cases per 100,000 people in two weeks, according to the Benton Franklin Health District.

Franklin County had an even higher rate, with 876 new cases per 100,000 people in two weeks. However, that is still below a peak of more than 1,250 cases per 100,000 in the county in November.

Just three months ago, Benton and Franklin counties were working to get their case rates below 200, a previous target set by Gov. Jay Inslee for reopening businesses during the pandemic. Businesses are now open with limited restrictions.

The new cases reported over the past four days — 525 in Benton County and 325 in Franklin County — bring total confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic in the Tri-Cities area to 35,541.

Deaths of Benton and Franklin county residents due to complications of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic total 356.

Just one vaccinated person has died of COVID-19 in the Tri-Cities area, according to Benton Franklin Health District data through the end of July.

This story was originally published August 17, 2021 at 12:49 PM.