Big jump in new Tri-Cities COVID cases. 50,000 cases since pandemic start

The Tri-Cities area hit more than 50,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic on Tuesday.

That means about one in every six people has tested positive, although some may have been infected more than once.

The Benton Franklin Health District reported 148 new confirmed cases in Benton and Franklin counties on Tuesday, bringing the total to 50,040.

The surge of cases brought those reported for the past seven days to 406, or an average of 58 each day.

For the week before Christmas the Tri-Cities-based health district reported an average of 24 new cases per day.

The health district is keeping a close eye on case counts but it is too soon to determine what is going on, said Annie Goodwin, operations deputy chief for the health district.

There has been an increase in testing at the public walk-up and drive-thru sites in the Tri-Cities, she said.

But it is not known yet if that was from people testing as a precaution before they gathered or traveled for the holidays or because more people are ill and are being tested for the coronavirus.

Last year there was a surge of new cases over the December holidays, but the uptick in new cases was relatively small and brief following Thanksgiving last month..

Across Washington state cases are up, with a record number of new cases for a single day, 6,235, reported on Dec. 24.

The spike in cases mirrors that of other U.S. cities as the super-infectious omicron variant has become dominant and pushed daily counts past the peak of the delta variant wave.

The Benton Franklin Health District was closed on Dec. 24 and did not report new cases from Dec. 23 through Dec. 26 until Monday. Then it reported an average of 45 new cases per day for those five days.

Omicron variant

The highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus is in the Tri-Cities area.

The first cases in Benton and Franklin counties were detected in testing done Dec. 4 to 8, with four cases found in a sampling of positive test results.

That increased to seven cases of omicron in the two counties as reported on Dec. 22.

Dr. John Lynch of UW Medicine in Seattle said that omicron had become the dominant strain in King County as of Dec. 23.

It has been slower to dominate cases elsewhere in the state, but he predicted it would replace the delta strain in Eastern Washington very soon.

People who are fully vaccinated and have also received their booster should mostly expect cold-like symptoms if they contract the variant, he said.

He said he was keeping his holiday celebrations small and only hanging out with people who, like him, are vaccinated.

Health officials have warned that as omicron surges across the nation, hospitals could again become overwhelmed with patients, just as they were during the peak of the delta variant surge.

Even though people may not get as sick with omicron as with the delta variant, even a small portion of a large number of people with the omicron variant becoming sick enough to need hospitalization could overwhelm already full hospitals, according to the Washington Hospital Association.

COVID-related hospitalizations have increased 58% in the last week in King County, Public Health – Seattle & King County said on Monday.

However, in Benton and Franklin counties, hospitalizations are only up by a few patients.

On Tuesday, the health district reported 21 patients being treated for COVID-19 in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals. They accounted for about 5% of 409 patients.

The COVID-19 patient count is up just one from Monday of last week and up six from the recent low of 15 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in mid December, the lowest number since June.

COVID testing

An overwhelming response to an offer for free, rapid COVID-19 tests delivered to homes in Benton and Franklin counties has exhausted supplies and no more orders are being taken.

The free test kits also were distributed through libraries and some may have a few left to give out, but public health officials said those also had been going fast.

Those who missed out can still get free test at the public drive-thru site at Columbia Basin College in Pasco and the walk-up site in Richland.

The two sites have been able to stay open using tents with heaters through the bitterly cold temperatures in the Tri-Cities this week.

The CBC site at 3110 W. Argent Rd. It is open 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays through Tuesdays, but will be closed on New Year’s Day.

The Richland testing site at 975 George Washington Way is open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays.

More places to get tested are posted at covid19.bfhd.wa.gov/testing-sites.

Shorter quarantines

The Washington state Department of Health on Tuesday announced new guidance with shorter quarantines and isolation times to align with new recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

People with COVID-19 can isolate for just five days if they have no symptoms on day five and then wear masks around other people for another five days. That’s down from the previous guidance of 10 days of isolation.

Unvaccinated people who are quarantining because they have been exposed to COVID-19 may follow a similar recommendation, quarantining for just five days, followed by strict mask use for another five days.

The same guidance holds for people who have been vaccinated with Pfizer or Moderna more than six months ago or with Johnson and Johnson more than two months ago and have not received booster shots.

Vaccinated people with booster shots do not need to quarantine, but should wear a mask for 10 days after exposure.

If symptoms occur, they should immediately quarantine until they get a negative test result.

If people are in doubt they should bet tested five days after an exposure.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This story was originally published December 29, 2021 at 5:00 AM.