Tri-Cities expected to lift COVID mask mandate when WA state does. Cases dropping

Benton and Franklin counties can expect to have eased restrictions for wearing indoor masks on the same schedule as the state of Washington, said the Tri-Cities top health officer.

Local standards for protection against COVID-19 can be stricter than the state of Washington standards, but may not be more lenient.

Dr. Amy Person, health officer for Benton and Franklin counties, told the bicounty health district board Wednesday that she expected Gov. Jay Inslee on Thursday to release a timeline for ending indoor face mask requirements.

He previously announced that masks will not be required in outdoor gatherings starting Friday, Feb. 18.

“We have no indications and no expectations that we will need to put any additional local restrictions in place,” Dr. Person said. “But I do want to remind everyone that there still is a statewide mandate, and there is still a legal requirement to wear masks indoors and that includes in our school settings.”

The Richland School District Board voted Tuesday night to make masks optional, resulting in the closure of the schools since then.

Inslee is expected to discuss changes to statewide mask requirements at a 2 p.m. Thursday news briefing that will be shown on tvw.org.

New COVID-19 case rates in Benton and Franklin counties have dropped sharply since the peak of the omicron variant of the virus, Dr. Person said.

As of Wednesday the combined new case rate for Benton and Franklin counties was 1,419 new cases per 100,000 people over the past two weeks.

That’s a drop of about 2,000 in less than a month.

Declining case rates are due both to the generally less severe illness caused by the omicron variant of the coronavirus and, more importantly, the increased number of people with some immunity due to vaccination or prior cases of COVID-19, Dr. Person said.

COVID cases still high

Case rates still remain high, despite the recent drop, said Heather Hill, infectious disease supervisor for the Benton Franklin Health District, speaking on the Kadlec on Call podcast Wednesday night.

Last spring the new case rate was around 200 new cases per 100,000 over two weeks.

She also pointed out that the new case rates being reported now do not include most of the results of home test kits, which usually are not reported to public health.

The number of positive test results at the free drive-thru COVID-19 testing site in Pasco remains high. About 37% of recent test results there have been positive, Hill said.

New case rates and the percentage of positive test results are “telling us there is still a lot of virus throughout our community,” she said.

Issues with the Washington state Department of Health COVID-19 reporting system as it processes large volumes of data have prevented the Benton Franklin Health District from posting daily new cases in the Tri-Cities area this week until Wednesday.

Then the total number of cases actually dropped as the Department of Health removed duplicate test results from data, as part of an ongoing and routine process.

The total number of cases since the start of the pandemic in the two counties dropped by about 400 since the report on Friday to a total of 74,097 cases.

Fewer hospital patients

“Our health care system is also reporting improvements,” Dr. Person said.

Public health officials have been keeping a close watch on hospitalizations to make sure the health care system has enough capacity to care for not only people with COVID but also those with all types of life threatening illnesses that require hospital care, she said.

Wednesday 50 people were hospitalized in Benton and Franklin counties with COVID-19, down from patient counts in the 90s in the last week of January.

The 50 patients on Wednesday made up 12% of all patients in the Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals.

Hospitals still are not operating normally, Dr. Person said.

They have fewer than usual staffed beds available as staff are out ill or have left due to burn-out, she said.

Non-urgent hospital procedures have been paused across the state since hospitals were in crisis in January, but that statewide restriction will be lifted Friday.

Non-urgent procedures do not mean just cosmetic surgery or what people may think of as elective surgery, she said. Care that has been delayed includes joint replacements and procedures to diagnose diseases.

This story was originally published February 17, 2022 at 5:00 AM.