34 more COVID deaths reported in Tri-Cities. Some date back to July

Two men in their 30s were among the COVID-19 deaths reported for Benton and Franklin counties on Friday.

The Benton Franklin Health District announced an additional 34 people have died of COVID-related complications.

However, 22 of those deaths were from the Washington Department of Health’s backlog of deaths from July 6 to Sept. 5. The other 12 were deaths this week.

That brings the total who have died in the two counties to 436 people, a county health official confirmed with the Herald on Friday.

Eight of those deaths have been in people younger than 40.

Washington state data shows 449 COVID-related deaths in the bi-county area. The county and state numbers frequently do not match because of a lag in verifying the cause of death.

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.

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

The youngest of those who died from COVID in the past week was a woman in her 40s and a man in his 30s, both from Franklin County. Along with a man in his 60s, they were the latest deaths in Franklin County.

Deaths of another Franklin County woman in her 40s and man in his 30s were part of the reporting backlog from the state.

The remaining recent deaths all were from Benton County including a woman and two men in their 50s, a woman in her 60s, three women and a man in their 70s and a man in his 80s.

New cases

The number of new COVID-19 cases reported on Friday was fewer than earlier in the week. Benton County had 85 new cases and Franklin had 45.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 42,621 people in the two counties have tested positive, according to data from the local health district.

The number of hospitalized patients also dropped on Friday to 110 patients who were admitted because of COVID-19.

That accounts for 27% of all patients at Kadlec Regional Medical Center, Trios Southridge Hospital, Lourdes Medical Center and Prosser Memorial.

This story was originally published September 18, 2021 at 7:36 AM.