COVID cases on decline in Tri-Cities. But 9 more people died

The number of confirmed new daily cases of COVID-19 is falling dramatically in the Tri-Cities area.

“Things do look very promising that we are transitioning from COVID being a pandemic that disrupted all of our lives to being more of an endemic,” said Dr. Amy Person, health officer for the Benton and Franklin counties, on the Kadlec on Call podcast this week.

An endemic disease is one regularly seen and expected. “It is something that is still there but we have learned to live with,” she said.

But even though the number of new cases is dropping dramatically, the number still remains higher than at any previous peak during the pandemic.

And residents of the Tri-Cities area continue to die from complications of COVID-19.

Friday the Benton Franklin Health District announced nine more deaths, three of them people in their 50s.

That brings the total deaths announced so far this month to 17, with recent deaths in the two counties announced weekly.

The most recent deaths included three men in their 50s in Benton County, plus a man in his 80s and a woman in her 90s in Benton County.

In Franklin County the most recent deaths included a man in his 60s, two men in their 70s and a woman in her 80s.

There has only been one other week with as many recent deaths announced since mid October.

Deaths are on track so far in February to exceed those announced in recent months.

COVID death counts

In January, a total of 21 Tri-Cities COVID deaths were announced, compared to 22 in December and 17 in November.

Deaths have declined significantly since the 80 announced in October when the delta variant had just peaked.

Most deaths in the Tri-Cities area have been in people who were not fully vaccinated.

The most recent deaths attributed to COVID-19 bring the Tri-Cities area total since the start of the pandemic to 616, including 420 residents of Benton County and 196 residents of Franklin County.

In the Tri-Cities, 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.

Statewide, 11,316 residents have died of complications of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, according to the Washington state Department of Health on Friday.

Tri-Cities COVID cases

The new case rate in the Tri-Cities has declined to 2,555 new cases per 100,000 people over the past two weeks, according to data from the Tri-Cities based health district.

New case rates peaked early this month at about 4,000 new cases per 100,000 over two weeks.

Before the omicron variant became the dominant variant, the new case rate had not reached 1,500. The year started with a case rate for the two counties of 199.

The latest new case rate for Benton County is 2,476 new cases per 100,000 over two weeks, with the case rate continuing to be higher in Franklin County. Its latest new case rate is 3,113 new cases per 100,000 over two weeks.

Over the past week an average of 163 new cases per day were reported to the Benton Franklin Health District.

However, that’s likely a significant under count now that many people use home tests for COVID-19 and most of those positive results are not reported to public health agencies, said Heather Hill, infectious disease supervisor for the Benton Franklin Health District, speaking on the Kadlec on Call podcast.

As COVID-19 becomes endemic, it will still be dangerous for some people, Dr. Person said on her weekly interview with the Benton Franklin Community Health Alliance.

Other diseases, such as tuberculosis, are endemic but still have to be taken seriously, she said.

“What is going to change over time is it is no longer going to be this huge disrupter in everyone’s lives,” she said. “It will become a little more predicable so that we’ll know and be able to plan for how we continue to control it.”

Tri-Cities hospitals

Since omicron began to dominate Tri-Cities COVID-19 cases this winter, public health officials have been focused on the health care system and its ability to handle the number of ill people rather than case counts.

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 has decreased to 60 people hospitalized, which was a drop from 89 patients at the start of the week in hospitals in Benton and Franklin counties.

Patients with COVID-19 accounted for 15%, of patients in the Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals, down from about 20% 10 days ago.

Patients with the highly transmissible omicron variant of COVID-19 tend to have milder illnesses and shorter hospital stays, particularly if they are vaccinated, than those with previous strains of the coronavirus.

That helps reduce the number of patients in hospitals, but rates of people being admitted to the hospital still remain high.

“While I’m encouraged by our rapidly declining COVID-19 case rates, our hospitalization rate remains higher than at any other point during the pandemic,” said Washington Gov. Jay Inslee earlier in the week.

Nursing home relief

The Washington state Department of Social and Health Services is working to ease some of the strain on hospitals who have elderly patients who have become stranded in hospitals because they cannot find nursing homes or other long term care facilities with available rooms.

Long-term care facilities have faced severe staffing challenges during the omicron surge since many staff are out sick or have left the workforce, according to DSHS.

It has contracted with 10 nursing homes across the state and will provide them with staff to care for elderly or other patients being released from hospitals who need long -term care and do not have COVID-19.

The nursing homes include Avalon Health and Rehabilitation Center in Pasco.

DSHS has contracted with a temporary nurse staffing agency, AMN Healthcare, to provide about 250 registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and certified nursing assistants to staff dedicated units at the 10 nursing homes.

Tri-Cities vaccination rates

The percentage of people who are old enough to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and are fully vaccinated increased only slightly over the last week.

In Benton County, the percentage of residents age 5 and older fully vaccinated increased from 58.1% to 58.4% over the past week. In Franklin County, the increase was from 54% to 54.4%.

Statewide, 70.4% of all residents age 5 and older are fully vaccinated, according to the Washington state Department of Health.

It considers people fully vaccinated if they have had two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or one dose of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

But additional booster shots are recommended for those 12 and older by the Washington state Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control.

Tri-Cities COVID outbreaks

The Benton Franklin Health District reported outbreaks in 17 in businesses and investigations into 12 more pending, as of a week ago when it posted its most recent data.

There were eight outbreaks in health care organizations with four pending investigations, and three outbreaks in schools with five pending investigations.

Long -term care facilities were being hit hard with 15 active investigations and eight more possible outbreaks on watch.

Nursing homes and other elder care facilities are characterized as having an outbreak with as few as one case in staff or residents.

As of Friday, there had been 1,169 cases reported since the start of the pandemic in long -term care homes in Benton and Franklin counties, with 139 of those added to the count since the first of 2022.

This story was originally published February 12, 2022 at 5:00 AM.