300+ new COVID cases reported in 1 day in Tri-Cities area, as hospitals overwhelmed

The Tri-Cities had 314 more confirmed new cases of COVID-19 announced on Wednesday.

It brings the total for the week to date, starting with the weekend, to 1,164, or an average of 233 per day.

However, because the free drive-thru testing site at Columbia Basin College off Argent Road in Pasco is closed Wednesdays and Thursdays, reports of positive test results often drop late in the week, which could drop the daily average new cases by the end of this week.

Last week new cases averaged 203 a day.

The new case rate for Benton County was reported as 841 new cases per 100,000 people over two weeks, up from a case rate of 341 at the end of July.

The new case rate reported for Benton County on Wednesday was the highest since the start of the pandemic.

Franklin County’s new case rate was not immediately available for Wednesday.

However, the combined new case rate for Benton and Franklin counties was 881 new cases per 100,000 people in two weeks, up from 355 at the end of July, a jump of 148%.

The highest case rate reported for the counties combined was 934 this past winter.

The number of people hospitalized locally for COVID-19 patients dropped to 95 from a high of 104 reported on Monday.

That was still above the high count of 74 local COVID-19 hospital patients at the bicounty peak of the pandemic this past winter.

The 95 patients being treated for COVID-19 as of Wednesday accounted for 25% of the 395 patients at the Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals.

Public health officials report that the high number of new cases is the result of the spread of the more contagious delta variant of the coronavirus and a low COVID-19 vaccination rate in Benton and Franklin counties compared to the rest of Washington state.

Health officials say that hospitals are overwhelmed due to the high number of cases in the Tri-Cities area, people with other health care needs who put off medical care earlier in the pandemic and hospital staffing shortages.

This story was originally published August 18, 2021 at 12:55 PM.