Steep rise in Tri-Cities COVID cases as omicron variant spreads. More deaths reported

Three more Tri-Cities area residents have died of complications of COVID-19 and the number of new cases have soared this week.

The Benton Franklin Health District reported 217 new cases on Thursday, the highest daily case count in three months, according to Tri-City Herald records.

Thursday a week ago just 30 new cases were reported.

The increase may be a combination of the spread of the highly contagious omicron variant as it gets a stronger foothold in the Tri-Cities area and infections related to holiday gatherings and travel, according to officials with the Benton Franklin Health District.

Public health officials are expecting cases to continue to increase as omicron spreads in Eastern Washington.

The three recent deaths from COVID-19 bring the total reported for Benton and Franklin in December to 22.

That compares to 17 COVID deaths reported in November and 80 COVID deaths reported in October.

Deaths usually are reported weekly by the Benton Franklin Health District.

The three most recent deaths were all men living in Benton County. One was in his 50s and two were in their 60s.

They bring total deaths of Tri-Cities area residents due to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic to 578, including 395 residents of Benton County and 183 residents of Franklin County.

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 due to the reporting processes of medical facilities and coroner offices and the process of issuing and releasing death certificates.

Tri-Cities cases

New COVID-19 cases have been rising steadily in reports by the Benton Franklin Health district this week.

During the week before Christmas it reported an average of 36 new cases per day in the Tri-Cities area.

On Monday, the Tri-Cities-based health district reported an average of 45 cases per day in a combined total for Dec. 23 through 27.

On Tuesday, the number of confirmed new cases jumped to 128 and on Wednesday to 189.

That puts the average number of daily cases for the week from the weekend through Thursday at about 115.

The highly contagious omicron variant has been the dominant variant in the Seattle area starting more than a week ago, when the variant was also in the Tri-Cities area but at apparently low levels.

Dr. John Lynch of UW Medicine in Seattle warned then that it is only a matter of time before omicron also dominated cases in Eastern Washington.

“We’ll see a very steep peak,” said Dr. Amy Person, health officer for Benton and Franklin counties, in an interview with the Benton Franklin Community Health Alliance on Wednesday. “That’s been the pattern in other countries. This is not a slow rise. It is a nearly vertical climb.”

Although omicron appears to cause less severe illness than the delta virus, particularly in people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and have a booster shot, the sheer number of cases anticipated could overwhelm some hospitals, public health officials have warned.

Nationally, more children are being hospitalized, Dr. Person said.

So far in the Tri-Cities, the increase in COVID-19 patients needing hospitalization has been far below the peak in September.

On Thursday, 24 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Benton and Franklin counties. They accounted for 6% of the 402 patients in the Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals.

In mid December as few as 15 patients were being treated for COVID-19 at the four hospitals, the lowest number since June.

At the worst of the wave of the wave of the delta variant, the four hospitals were treating more than 120 patients.

COVID vaccinations

COVID vaccination rates for those becoming fully vaccinated in the Tri-Cities remain little changed over the last week although more people are getting booster doses.

In Washington state 63% of the population is fully vaccinated, compared to 52% in Benton County and 47% in Franklin County.

In Benton County about 38,100 people and in Franklin County about 11,900 people have received a booster dose of the COVID vaccine.

That’s an increase for the two counties combined of about 14,000 booster doses over the past two weeks. That rate of 7,000 per week is higher than the 6,000 booster doses given in the Tri-Cities area the first full week of December.

Either a third dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or a second dose of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is considered a booster dose.

The Washington state Department of Health does not break down vaccination of children by county. It reports just under 19% of children ages 5-11 statewide are fully vaccinated and 27% have at least an initial dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.