More Tri-Cities COVID deaths reported, but they may finally be on the decline

Fewer recent deaths from COVID-19 were reported in the Tri-Cities area this past week than in other recent weeks.

Four deaths were reported, which was half as many as the week before.

Public health officials have been watching for the number of deaths to start to decline, following dramatic drops in known cases of COVID-19 and patients hospitalized due to the disease.

Deaths due to COVID-19 usually lag trends in COVID-19 new cases and hospitalizations by about three weeks, said Dr. Scott Lindquist, the Washington state epidemiologist for communicable diseases.

The rate of new cases in Benton and Franklin counties has dropped to a level rated as “moderate,” from “substantial” a week ago.

Even more important, the number of hospital beds in the two counties being used for patients being treated primarily for COVID-19 has dropped to 4%, said Heather Hill, infectious disease supervisor for the Benton Franklin Health District, speaking on the Kadlec on Call podcast this week.

The deaths announced this week bring those in the first three weeks of March to at total of 22, a promising trend compared to 43 deaths in February

However, recent deaths for the month already are higher than the average of 20 deaths per month for each of November, December and January, according to Benton Franklin Health District data.

The COVID deaths announced this week included three residents of Benton County — a man in his 60s, a woman in her 70s and a woman in her 80s.

The fourth death was a Franklin County man in his 90s.

They bring total deaths in the Tri-Cities area since the start of the pandemic to 664, including 454 residents of Benton County and 210 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, 12,333 residents have died of complications of COVID since the start of the pandemic, including 150 people added to the tally since last Friday, according to the Washington state Department of Health.

That was close to the same number of deaths, 158, announced the previous week.

The latest wave of new COVID-19 cases, which were attributed to the omicron variant, hit Western Washington earlier than Eastern Washington and declined earlier in Western Washington.

Tri-Cities COVID cases

The decline in new confirmed cases is promising, said Dr. Amy Person, health officer for Benton and Franklin counties, speaking on Kadlec on Call.

Public health officials expect to see COVID-19 cases increase after the state mandate requiring masks be worn in most public indoor spaces was lifted at midnight March 11, she said.

“But we also feel we are in a good position just in terms of the number of people who have been vaccinated or recently infected with COVID-19 so that our community is not at extreme risk,” she said.

As of Thursday, the combined new case rate for Benton and Franklin counties had dropped to 45 new cases per 100,000 over the most recent seven days for which complete data was available. The case rate is calculated on when tests were done that later tested positive.

The new case rate is down from 72 a week earlier.

The Benton County new case rate has dropped to 27, with the Franklin County case rate substantially higher at 83, which is an increase from the previous week’s data. Although the case rate is considered “moderate” for Benton County and for both counties combined, the case rate for Franklin County is “substantial.”

Hill cautions that new case rates are less accurate now that many people are using home COVID tests, with test results usually not reported to public health officials.

There is still a chance that a new variant could cause cases to rise, Dr. Person said.

Omicron subvariant in Wash.

The delta variant has virtually disappeared in Washington state, with the original omicron accounting for about 91% of new cases and the BA.2 subvariant of omicron accounting for the rest, according to the Washington state Department of Health.

The World Health Organization reports that it appears to be more easily transmitted than the original omicron variant, which spread rapidly because it was more infectious than the delta variant that was earlier dominant.

The BA.2 subvariant has increased from about 4% of new cases in the state to about 9% of cases over three weeks.

The Department of Health has not broken down the prevalence of omicron subvariants by county.

Nationwide the BA.2 omicron variant is believed to account for about 23% of new cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Tri-Cities hospitalizations

Two years after the first resident of Benton and Franklin counties was hospitalized for treatment of COVID-19, Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland reported midweek that it had just three COVID-19 patients.

That’s down from 64 as reported seven weeks ago by the largest of the four hospitals in Benton and Franklin counties.

Reza Kaleel, Kadlec chief executive, said hospital leadership is cautiously optimistic that “the worst and biggest surges may be behind us.”

The Benton Franklin Health District reported 15 hospitalizations in the two counties between March 4 and 10, which was down 15% from the previous week.

The 4.3% rate of hospital beds in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser being used for COVID-19 patients dropped from 6.6% a week ago. The rate counts only patients who are being treated primarily for COVID-19, not those admitted for other reasons who also are infected with the virus.

Tri-Cities vaccines

With the Washington state mask mandate lifted, it is important that people be vaccinated, Hill said.

Benton and Franklin vaccination rates have lagged the Washington statewide rate since COVID-19 vaccines were approved.

Across Washington state 71.4% of residents five and older are considered fully vaccinated by the definition of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That is up 0.3 percentage point in the last week.

But the Benton County percentage increased by only 0.1 percentage point last week to 59.2% of the eligible population — residents age 5 and older — fully vaccinated.

Franklin County is slowly narrowing its gap with Benton County on vaccinations.

The Washington state Department of Health data show 56.1% of eligible residents there fully vaccinated, which is up 0.3 percentage point in the last week.

The CDC considers anyone with two Pfizer or Moderna shots or one Johnson and Johnson shot fully vaccinated.

But to be “up to date” on the COVID-19 vaccine anyone age 12 or older should receive an additional booster dose, according to the CDC.

In Washington state 58% of residents 12 and older have received the extra dose.

That drops to 50.5% in Benton County and 42.6% in Franklin County, according to the Washington state Department of Health.

This story was originally published March 19, 2022 at 5:00 AM.