Tri-Cities had one of its deadliest weeks of the COVID pandemic. Total deaths near 500

The Benton Franklin Health District reported 19 recent deaths due to COVID-19 on Friday, making it one of the worst weeks of the pandemic.

The youngest person to die recently was a Benton County man in his 30s.

The only week more deadly was in late September, when 22 deaths were reported. Last week 18 deaths were reported.

There were 64 recent deaths reported in September, not counting 22 deaths from a backlog of unreported deaths that built up over the summer.

There were 23 deaths reported in August and 10 in July.

Public health officials are hopeful, however, that the number of people dying may drop soon, following a decline since mid September in the number of people seriously ill enough to be hospitalized.

The Benton Franklin Health District reports deaths once a week, on Fridays.

Sixteen of the deaths announced this Friday were Benton County residents.

They included a man in his 30s, a man in his 40s, a man in his 50s, and a woman and two men in their 60s.

Also dying were two women and three men in their 70s, a man and three women in their 80s, and a woman in her 90s.

The Franklin County residents who died were a woman in her 70s and a man and a woman in their 80s.

Since the start of the pandemic 495 residents in the two counties have died of complications of COVID-19, including 333 from Benton County and 162 from Franklin County.

Vaccinated vs. unvaccinated

As the delta variant has become the primary strain infecting people in the Tri-Cities area, the number of deaths in fully vaccinated people has increased.

This year 16 fully vaccinated Tri-Cities area residents have died from January through September. The other 194 deaths during the same time period were in unvaccinated people.

Health officials say no one has died from the vaccine in Benton or Franklin counties.

Local public health officials verify that 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, 7,972 deaths due to the coronavirus have been reported since the start of the pandemic. They include 246 deaths reported over the past week.

Of the people who have died statewide, 442 were known to be vaccinated against COVID, according to the latest state Washington state Department of Health report issued Oct. 6 on vaccination breakthrough cases. They ranged in age from 34 to 102, with a median age of 79.

At least 158 of them were residents or staff of long-term care facilities.

Tri-Cities COVID cases

The Benton Franklin Health District reported an average of 127 new COVID-19 cases per day over the last week.

That’s a drop from an average of 175 new cases per day the previous week.

The new case rate for Benton and Franklin counties combined has dropped to 783 new cases per 100,000 over two weeks, down from the peak of 1,077.

Benton County’s two-week new case rate reported Friday was 721, and Franklin County’s case rate was 916.

The number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 treatment in Benton and Franklin counties dropped from a high of 127 on Sept. 13 to as few as 53 earlier this past week.

On Friday, 61 people were being treated for COVID-19 at local hospitals, making up about 15% of all patients in the Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals.

The percentage of positive test results at the Columbia Basin College free drive-through testing site also has dropped.

For Sept. 20 through Oct. 4, about 16% of test results were positive, down 4%.

While the drop in cases and hospitalized COVID-19 is encouraging, Dr. Amy Person, health officer for Benton and Franklin counties, warned Thursday that the improved numbers should not become complacent, particularly as the holiday season approaches and cold weather has more people staying inside.

They could rebound if the small increase in the number of people being vaccinated does not continue and if people are not diligent about wearing masks in public, maintaining distance and staying home when sick.

COVID in long-term care

Public health officials also are concerned about the number of outbreaks in nursing and other long-term care facilities, home to some of the Tri-Cities most vulnerable residents, as the more infectious delta variant has become common.

There have been 57 cases of COVID-19 confirmed in staff and residents of long-term care facilities in the Tri-Cities area over the past 30 days.

“In any of our facilities where vaccinations rates, particularly among the staff, are lower, we unfortunately will continue to see cases and see the potential for outbreaks in long-term care facilities, in acute care facilities, as well as in any of our general businesses,” Dr. Person said.

Total COVID-19 cases confirmed by positive test results in Benton and Franklin counties now total 46,064, including 27, 872 in Benton County and 18,192 in Franklin County.

This story was originally published October 8, 2021 at 3:23 PM.