One of Tri-Cities deadliest COVID weeks — 19 deaths and younger victims

The Benton Franklin Health District reported 19 more COVID-related deaths this week, with some of the victims in their 30s and 40s.

The deaths announced Friday account for 10% of all Tri-Cities area COVID-19 deaths in people younger than 60 since the start of the pandemic.

Five of the deaths announced Friday had been delayed due to a backlog in health department reporting. The other 14 deaths were announced after the normal process of verifying the cause of the person’s death.

Verified COVID-19 deaths are reported once a week by the health district based in the Tri-Cities.

Not counting the five delayed cases, it was the deadliest week in seven months in the Tri-Cities.

In mid-January there was a Friday when 16 deaths were announced.

“It is always difficult to report out death numbers each week,” said Dr. Amy Person, health officer with Benton Franklin Health District. “This week is incredibly hard as it represents the reality of what surging cases causes downstream.”

The deaths announced Friday bring the total COVID deaths of Tri-Cities area residents since the start of the pandemic to 392.

Just one death of a fully vaccinated person is known in the Tri-Cities, according to county data available through July.

The 19 deaths announced Friday follow 24 deaths in all of August and 22 deaths in June and July combined.

The high number of deaths reflect the surge in new cases since the more infectious delta variant of the coronavirus has become common and now accounts for nearly all cases in Benton and Franklin counties.

The deaths announced Friday include a Franklin County man in his 30s, a Franklin County woman in her 40s and a Benton County man in his 40s.

Other Benton County deaths include four men in their 60s, three men in their 70s, a woman in her 80s and two women and two men in their 90s.

The other Franklin County deaths include three men in their 50s and a woman in her 90s.

Benton County now has had 263 deaths due to COVID-19 and Franklin County has had 129.

Total deaths by age

Because the Tri-Cities has only recently reached a new peak in daily confirmed COVID infections, more deaths are expected to be reported in the coming weeks.

Deaths in both counties include 150 people who were 80 or older; 100 in their 70s; and 80 in their 60s.

Also, there have been deaths of 34 people in their 50s; 18 in their 40s; three in their 30s; one in their 20s; and two people younger than 20.

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.

It can take several weeks for the district to receive and reconcile death information for residents due to the reporting processes of medical facilities and coroners’ offices and the process of issuing and releasing death certificates.

In all of Washington state, 6,643 deaths due to the coronavirus have been reported since the start of the pandemic, including 172 deaths announced in the past week.

Of the people who have died statewide, just 185 were known to be vaccinated against COVID, according to the latest state report issued Sept. 1 on vaccination breakthrough cases.

At least 62 of them were residents of long-term care facilities.

This story was originally published September 3, 2021 at 12:23 PM.