600+ new COVID cases in Tri-Cities area in 2 days this week
Tri-Cities hospitals continued to be overwhelmed this week, with nearly a third of all admitted patients being treated for COVID-19.
Just over 28% — or 115 of the 404 hospitalized patients on Thursday — in the four Tri-Cities area hospitals in the Tri-Cities and Prosser were COVID-related patients, according to the Benton Franklin Health District.
A social media post by Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland on Thursday showed 83 people were being treated for COVID during the week ending Sept. 14.
Of those, 17 were in intensive care and none were fully vaccinated.
New COVID cases continue to climb with 327 new cases reported by health officials Thursday morning. Another 302 new infections were reported on Wednesday.
The new case rate for Benton County was at 971 per 100,000 over two weeks.
The new case rate for Franklin County climbed to a recent high of 1,201 new cases per 100,000 over two weeks.
The highest infection rate in the Tri-Cities is among 20 to 39 year olds, according to bicounty health department website. The second highest is in 15 to 19 year olds.
Benton and Franklin counties have had more than 45,000 positive COVID cases.
Across the state of Washington, 52 people died from COVID on Wednesday, said state health officials. And nearly 3,800 new cases were documented statewide.
Deaths in Benton and Franklin counties are only updated weekly. Last week, health officials announced that 11 people died from COVID-related complications.
This story was originally published September 16, 2021 at 3:50 PM.