Health officials see promising COVID trends in Tri-Cities. But deaths still high

The number of recent deaths due to COVID-19 in the Tri-Cities area remains high, even as the impact on hospitals and number of confirmed new cases continue their dramatic drop.

“It does feel that we are at a point in the community, where COVID is becoming a little more predictable, at least in the short term,” said Dr. Amy Person, health officer for Benton and Franklin counties in her weekly interview with the Benton Franklin Community Health Alliance.

Public health officials have expected the number of COVID-19 deaths to be slower to decline than new case rates and stress on hospitals.

Eight more residents of the Tri-Cities area have died of complications of COVID-19, the youngest a man in his 20s, the Benton Franklin Health District announced this past week.

They bring the total COVID deaths announced in March to date to 18, with deaths from the disease announced once a week on Thursdays.

It puts Benton and Franklin counties on track for total COVID-19 deaths for the month that are a little lower than the high number of deaths, 43, announced in February. Twenty deaths a month were announced from November through January.

The most recent COVID-19 deaths included five Benton County residents — a man and woman in their 70s and two men and a woman in their 80s.

In Franklin County, a man in his 20s, a man in his 50s and a woman in her 80s died.

They bring total deaths in the Tri-Cities area since the start of the pandemic to 660, including 451 residents of Benton County and 209 from 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, 12,183 residents have died of complications of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, including 158 people added to the tally since last Friday, according to the Washington state Department of Health.

Tri-Cities COVID cases

“We are now reaching a point where case rates have dropped to some of the lowest numbers we’ve seen for several months,” Dr. Person said.

The confirmed number of new cases per 100,000 people in the two counties during the most recent week of data dropped to 72 for the two counties together, or 70 for Benton County and 78 for Franklin County.

Early in the year the case rate for the two counties was more than 1,900 new cases per 100,000 people over seven days. It was by far the highest number of new cases of the past two years.

The Benton Franklin Health District rated the current new community transmission level as still “substantial,” with the case rate needing to fall below 50 to be considered “moderate.”

However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rated the COVID-19 level for both Benton and Franklin counties as “low” on Thursday. That is an improvement for Benton County, which had been rated as “medium” before Thursday, and no change for Franklin County.

The CDC rating is based not only on new cases, but also on declining numbers for hospital admissions and hospital beds being used in the Tri-Cities area.

The number of new hospitalizations with COVID-19 as the primary cause of treatment in the two counties dropped to 16 over two weeks, a decline of 70% from the past week, according to the Benton Franklin Health District.

“Hospitalizations are down,” Dr. Person said. “People have access to vaccines. They have access to other treatments for COVID, so they do have all the tools they need in order to keep their families safe.”

COVID vaccinations

The percentage of new cases reported in people who are not vaccinated continues to outpace cases in those who are vaccinated.

Updated data through February shows that about 62% of confirmed cases in the Tri-Cities area since late November were in people who have not been vaccinated and about 38% are in people who have been vaccinated.

The COVID-19 vaccination rate barely budged in the Tri-Cities over the last week.

In Benton County, 59.1% of people ages 5 and older had received their primary series of the COVID-19 vaccine — two Pfizer or Moderna shots or one Johnson and Johnson shot — as of Washington state Department of Health data reported Friday. That’s up just 0.1 percentage point from the previous Friday.

In Franklin County, 55.8% of people eligible for the vaccine were listed as fully vaccinated by state records, up 0.2 percentage point from the previous Friday.

Statewide 71.1% of people are considered fully vaccinated with their initial doses.

COVID masks

Wearing masks is not needed in counties with low COVID-19 levels like Benton and Franklin counties, according to the CDC, but people can choose to wear them.

They should wear a mask in public if they have symptoms, test positive or have been exposed to someone with COVID-19, the CDC said.

On Monday, most schools in Benton and Franklin counties will no longer require masks for most activities.

The statewide mandate for masks indoors lifted just before midnight on Friday, March 11, with some exceptions.

They include hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, pharmacies and dental offices, where masks are still required by Washington state.

The federal government will continue to require COVID-19 masks on public transportation — including airplanes, buses and taxis — until at least mid April. The restriction was set to expire March 18.

People with family members who are at high risk of severe illness from COVID-19 may decide to continue wearing face masks in at least some high risk settings, Dr. Person said.

But others, such as people with younger families, may be comfortable not wearing masks and spending time in groups, she said.

Public health officials will continue to watch for the emergence of new COVID variants or any trends of concern, she said.

The previous two waves of COVID-19 in Washington state were due to first the emergence of the delta variant and then the omicron variant.

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