6 COVID deaths reported in Tri-Cities this week. One was a teen. Another over 100

Six recent deaths of Tri-Cities area residents due to COVID-19 were reported Friday, the lowest weekly tally in almost three months.

However, the youngest to die in the latest count was a Pasco teen.

The Benton Franklin Health District does not release names of those who have died, but the Franklin County coroner confirmed recently that Andrew Medina, 16, died Oct. 22 of complications of COVID.

The Benton Franklin Health District reports deaths once a week and it can take several weeks for the district to receive and reconcile death information due to the reporting processes of medical facilities and coroner offices and the process of issuing and releasing death certificates.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has been declining in the Tri-Cities area for more than a month. But it takes time for the number of deaths also to decline, both because of the reporting process and the length of time people may be ill.

On the last Friday of October, the Benton Franklin Health District reported 12 recent deaths. That was down from a high of 23 recent deaths reported on Oct. 15.

The six deaths reported on Friday included a Benton County man in his 60s, two Benton County women in their 70s, a Franklin County man in his 80s, a Benton County woman in her 100s and the Franklin County teen.

Medina is one of three people younger than 20 to have died of COVID-19 in Benton and Franklin counties since the start of the pandemic.

In all, 545 residents of the Tri-Cities area have died of complications of COVID-19. They include 368 from Benton County and 177 from Franklin County.

So far this month there have been 18 recent deaths reported.

There were 80 deaths reported in October compare to 64 recent deaths in September, not including a summer backlog of 22 reported that month.

That’s far more than the 23 deaths reported in August and 10 in July.

The overwhelming majority of deaths this year have been in unvaccinated people, with just 7% of deaths in vaccinated people, said Dr. Amy Person, health officer for Benton and Franklin counties, last month.

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.

Breakthrough deaths

In all of Washington state, 8,767 deaths due to the coronavirus have been reported since the start of the pandemic. They include 182 deaths reported over the past week, up from 168 deaths the previous week.

Of the people who have died statewide, 630 were known to be vaccinated against COVID, according to the latest state Washington state Department of Health report issued Nov. 3 on vaccination breakthrough cases. They ranged in age from 35 to 103, with a median age of 79.

At least 234 of them were residents, or possibly staff, of long-term care facilities.

Information on deaths from breakthrough cases in the Tri-Cities is available only through September, when 16 fully vaccinated Tri-Cities area residents had died.

The other 194 deaths since January, when the vaccine became widely available, through September were in unvaccinated people.

No deaths due to the vaccine have been reported in the Tri-Cities area.

Tri-Cities vaccination

The Tri-Cities area has yet to achieve 50% of its population vaccinated against COVID-19, although Benton County is getting close.

The Washington state Department of Health reports that 49% of all residents in Benton County and 44% of all residents in Franklin County are fully vaccinated against the disease.

That compares to 60% of residents in the state, according to the Washington state Department of Health.

The rate of vaccination in Benton County rises to 59% and in Franklin County to 56% for just those ages 12 and older. That compares to 71% statewide.

Until Nov. 3, when a COVID-19 vaccine was approved for ages 5-11, only people 12 or older were eligible for the vaccine.

Tri-Cities COVID cases

The Benton Franklin Health District reported 353 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 over the past week for an average of 50 cases per day.

That compares with 57 new cases per day the previous week and 73 per day the week before that.

Benton County’s case rate has dropped below 300 new cases per 100,000 people in two weeks for the first time since July and Franklin County’s case rate is very close to that.

Benton County most recently had 286 new confirmed cases per 100,000 over two weeks and Franklin County had 301 new cases per 100,000 over two weeks.

Almost all new COVID-19 cases confirmed in the state of Washington and locally are now the delta variant.

The most common symptoms reported for the delta variant is headache, followed by fever, muscle aches and loss of taste or smell, according to the Washington state Department of Health’s Nov. 3 report on variants.

In addition, in nearly 10,000 cases of the delta variant with symptoms just over a third of patients had a sore throat or cough with smaller percentages reported nausea, diarrhea, shortness of breath or abdominal pain.

As of Friday, there were 48 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Benton and Franklin counties.

Although COVID patients in local hospitals have been generally trending down from a high of 127 patients in mid September, the count of 48 was up from 39 a week ago.

The 48 COVID patients on Friday accounted for 12% of the 395 patients in the Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals.

This story was originally published November 6, 2021 at 5:00 AM.