Tri-Cities leaders send urgent, open letter. COVID is ‘raging through our community’

Tri-Cities area leaders are imploring people to take steps to slow the spread of COVID-19 even if they oppose being vaccinated.

On Tuesday, 15 city, county and health care leaders issued an urgent, open letter to residents, saying “our counties are in crisis with COVID raging through our community.”

Of particular concern are local hospitals, which are overwhelmed with record numbers of unvaccinated COVID patients.

“We have reached a point where we cannot vaccinate our way out of the sharp incline we are seeing in cases and hospitalizations,” they said. “Although vaccination is one of the key strategies to ending the pandemic, it is time for everyone to do whatever they can to stop spread. Everyone.”

Their message is, “Any Two Will Do.”

The three top ways to get the spread of the coronavirus under control are:

• Get vaccinated.
• Wear a mask.
• Gather safely.

“If you cannot do all three, ‘Any two will do’,” they said.

The Tri-Cities area is seeing nearly 1,000 new cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 people every two weeks now, with the new case rate over 1,000 in Franklin County.

The climb in new cases cannot be quickly reversed by increased vaccinations. It takes two weeks after the final dose of COVID-19 vaccine for it to be fully effective, and the two doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines must be given weeks apart.

At the free drive-thru COVID-19 testing site off Argent Road in Pasco, a record 1,200 tests were done in one day over the weekend, the letter said. On most of the five days a week the site is open, about 1,000 tests are done.

With one in four test results positive, it is apparent that the testing site is only catching the sickest people, the letter said.

Vaccines effective

“The reality is this is a surge of the unvaccinated,” the letter said.

“Breakthrough” cases in vaccinated people account for 5% to 10% of those tested, which is an expected rate.

“The vaccine is holding strong in preventing severe illness, hospitalizations and death,” the letter said.

Through July, the most recent data available, just one resident of Benton or Franklin counties who was vaccinated has died due to complications of COVID.

That person was among 84 who died since Jan. 17 when the vaccine was in the early stages of being rolled out to the public in the Tri-Cities area. It puts the vaccine breakthrough deaths since then at just 1.2% of all deaths.

With 5 billion doses of the vaccine given worldwide, the vaccines have proven to be safe and effective, the letter said.

“Reactions are extremely rare, and reports show many reactions match statistically with what is occurring in the general population not receiving vaccine,” the letter said.

Masks worked before

But if people are unwilling to be vaccinated, they still should follow mandates for wearing masks in Washington state. Masks are required for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people when indoors in public places and outdoors when distancing cannot be safely maintained.

When masks were initially required in Washington state in July 2020, a drop in new cases followed, showing that masks could be effective in reducing the spread of the coronavirus.

People also should heed recommendations on large gatherings, which currently are not advised by the Benton Franklin Health district, the letter said.

If people do attend them, they should choose ones that have vaccination, testing and/or mask requirements. Then they should be tested if they have any symptoms in the next 14 days.

“We recognize the polarizing nature of the continued state of the pandemic and people wanting to get back to normal,” the letter said.

Everyone wants to return to socializing normally and feeling comfortable at community events and to businesses at capacity, kids playing sports and schools fully open, the letter said.

Taking at least two of the three steps to get COVID-19 under control is the responsibility of every person, not just for themselves but for others, it said.

Who did, did not sign letter

The letter was signed by the county administrators for Benton and Franklin counties and the mayors of Pasco, Richland and West Richland, along with the Pasco city manager.

Among health care leaders signing the letter were the chief executives of the hospitals in Richland, Kennewick and Pasco, plus the administrator of the Benton Franklin Health District, leaders of the Benton-Franklin Community Health Alliance and the Greater Columbia Accountable Community of Health.

The letter was also signed by Dr. Amy Person, health officer for Benton and Franklin counties.

Missing from the letter was the signature of Kennewick Mayor Don Britain.

He told the Tri-City Herald that he supported the points made in the letter but thought the letter was still under discussion.

He had wanted some of the leading local public officials opposing vaccination, such as Franklin County Commissioner Clint Didier, to sign the letter. That would help target the message to people opposed to vaccination, he said.

This story was originally published August 31, 2021 at 5:47 PM.