Tri-Cities COVID deaths this month top June, July combined. Hospitals busier than ever

The number of patients being treated in Tri-Cities area hospitals for COVID-19 hit a new high on Friday, putting even more pressure on the already overburdened health care system.

The weekly update from the Benton Franklin Health District on deaths from the disease also was grim.

It reported more Tri-Cities deaths from complications of COVID-19 in August than in the past two months combined.

Both deaths and hospitalizations have surged as the highly infectious delta variant of COVID-19 has become dominant in the state. It accounts for as many as 97% of all cases, and vaccination rates in the Tri-Cities area remain low.

Eight more residents of Benton and Franklin counties have died recently of complications of COVID-19, the youngest in their 40s, the health district said Friday.

They bring total deaths from COVID-19 in August to 24, more than the 22 total deaths for June and July.

It is the highest death toll for the Tri-Cities area since January, when 32 deaths were announced. At that time, vaccinations for people other than health care workers in Washington state were just becoming available.

The most recent deaths included one Franklin County man in his 40s and seven Benton County residents.

They were a woman in her 40s, two men in their 50s, a man in his 60s, a woman in her 80s and two men in their 90s.

Since the start of the pandemic, 373 Tri-Cities area residents have died from the coronavirus, including 250 Benton County residents and 123 Franklin County residents.

They include 144 people who were 80 or older; 100 in their 70s; and 77 in their 60s.

Also, there have been deaths of 31 people in their 50s; 16 in their 40s; two in their 30s; one in their 20s; and two people younger than 20.

As of the end of July, just one of the deaths was in a person fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with Tri-Cities area information for August not yet available.

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, 6,471 deaths due to the coronavirus have been reported since the start of the pandemic, including 141 deaths announced in the past week.

Of the people who have died statewide, just 66 were known to be vaccinated against COVID, according to the latest state report issued Aug. 11 on vaccination breakthrough cases.

COVID hospital patients

The Benton Franklin Health District reported that 114 people were being treated for COVID at the four hospitals in Benton and Franklin counties on Friday, accounting for 30.4% of all patients.

The previous high COVID patient count was 111 on Monday.

The number of patients hospitalized for COVID has more than doubled in a month. A month ago local hospitals reported 51 patients being treated.

“We’re seeing people sick in the hospital, fighting for their lives who never thought they would be at risk of COVID,” said Dr. Brian York, infectious disease specialist for Kadlec Medical Center in Richland, speaking on the most recent Kadlec on Call podcast.

About two months ago, Kadlec, the largest hospital in the Tri-Cities, had 17 COVID patients, none of them in the intensive care unit, said Jim Hall, Kadlec chief philanthropy officer, on the same podcast.

That had climbed to 70 COVID patients, including eight in the ICU, he said.

Up to 95% of people recently treated for COVID-19 at Kadlec have not been vaccinated, York said.

Those people who are vaccinated and still require hospital care for a breakthrough case of COVID-19 usually respond well to treatment and improve quickly, he said. Rarely do they need care in the intensive care unit.

Early in the pandemic, people 65 and older were the vast majority of people hospitalized for COVID, York said.

But as that age group now has a higher vaccination rate than younger adults, they account for just a quarter of those being treated for COVID-19 at the Richland hospital.

Many hospitalized there now for COVID are ages 18 to 35, he said.

“I can’t stress enough that every adult, regardless of how healthy you are, there is no way to guarantee that COVID can’t make you very sick,” he said. “The vaccine can significantly reduce the risk, and hopefully, prevent hospitalization and certainly prevent death to a large extent.”

Tri-Cities vaccinations

The percentage of people fully vaccinated in Benton County increased by 0.6% in the last week and the percentage in Franklin County increased by 0.8%, said Dr. Amy Person, health officer for Benton and Franklin counties, at a Thursday news briefing.

The number of vaccines being given has increased, which is a positive sign that people are getting past their hesitancy and “making that choice to protect themselves, their family and the community,” she said.

But the vaccination rates for Benton and Franklin counties still remain low compared to Washington state rates.

In Washington state 54.4% of all residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

That drops to 41.3% in Benton County and 34.3% in Franklin County, according to the Washington state Department of Health.

Vaccines are widely available in the Tri-Cities area at clinics, doctor’s offices and pharmacies. For more information, go to vaccinelocator.doh.wa.gov.

Tri-Cities COVID cases

The Benton Franklin Health District reported 1,448 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Tri-Cities this past week for an average of 207 new cases per day.

Cases this week are down from an average of 234 new cases per day the previous week and up from 203 the week before that. A month ago new confirmed cases of COVID were averaging 86 per day.

The average number of new daily cases increased in all age groups in August, but the increase has been highest in adults ages 20 to 39, Dr. Person said.

For Benton and Franklin counties combined, the new case rate increased to the highest of the pandemic this past week, she said.

Over two weeks 962 new COVID-19 cases were reported per 100,000 people, the health district reported Friday.

But for those ages 20 to 39 the new case rate was as high as 1,551 per 100,000 in that age group over two weeks. Older teens, those 15 to 19, had a case rate as high as 1,192.

The new cases reported over the past week brought total cases since the start of the pandemic to 37,774 in the Tri-Cities area, including 22,562 in Benton County and 15,212 in Franklin County.

The free COVID drive-thru testing site off Argent Road at Columbia Basin College continues to test about 1,000 people a day Fridays through Tuesdays.

About 22% of recent test results have been positive for COVID.

This story was originally published August 27, 2021 at 2:59 PM.