New COVID cases double in part of Tri-Cities area. More deaths announced

New COVID-19 cases are increasing in the Tri-Cities area, but public health officials say it is too early to speculate on whether it is a trend or definitively determine its cause.

Franklin County saw a 105% increase, or more than doubling, of confirmed cases over a week, according to data from the Benton Franklin Health District.

Even though Benton County saw a decrease of 24% in new cases, that still put the two county area up 53% as of data reported Thursday compared to a week earlier.

But at the same time hospital cases of COVID-19 have continue to decline, pointed out Annie Goodwin, operations deputy chief for the Tri-Cities based health district.

The number of recent deaths due to COVID-19 also has dropped significantly, but there still were four deaths of Tri-Cities area residents announced this week.

It is possible the end of the Washington state mandate requiring masks in public indoor spaces may have contributed to increased cases, but that is not certain, said Heather Hill, infectious disease supervisor for the Benton Franklin Health District, speaking on the Kadlec on Call podcast.

“Time will tell what will happen in the long run,” she said.

Tri-Cities COVID deaths

The deaths announced this week bring those announced so far in March to a total of 26, down from 43 deaths in February.

However, recent deaths for the month 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 Benton Franklin Health District announces recent deaths once a week, usually on Thursdays, and there are five Thursdays in March so the month’s death toll could go higher.

The COVID deaths announced this week included three residents of Benton County — two men in their 70s and a man in his 80s.

The fourth death was a Franklin County man in his 70s.

They bring total deaths in the Tri-Cities area since the start of the pandemic to 668, including 457 residents of Benton County and 211 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, 12,432 residents have died of complications of COVID since the start of the pandemic, including 99 people added to the tally since last Friday, according to the Washington state Department of Health.

That is down from 150 deaths announced the previous week.

COVID cases, hospitalizations

The COVID-19 transmission level in the Tri-Cities is rated as “substantial,” with the latest new case rate for Benton and Franklin counties combined at 68 new cases confirmed per 100,000 people over a week.

The rate would be higher, but most results from at home test kits are not reported to public health officials.

The new case rate in Benton County has dropped to 20 cases per 100,000 in a week, which is considered “moderate.”

Franklin County had a case rate of 169, which is considered “high.”

But hospitals continued to see a declining number of new cases of COVID-19 that were serious enough to cause people to come to an emergency room or be admitted.

Just under 2% of the hospital beds in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals were used by people being treated primarily for COVID-19, according to the most recent data compiled by the Washington state Department of Health

Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland, the largest hospital in the Tri-Cities area, had just six COVID-19 patients early in the week, with patient numbers in the single digits for the past two weeks.

COVID subvariants

The BA.2 subvariant of omicron has increased to 29% of cases in the state of Washington, up from 9% a week earlier.

The rest of the cases were the original omicron that caused the winter wave of cases in Washington state, according to the Washington state Department of Health.

It has not released data of the omicron subvariant by county.

Nationally the BA.2 variant is responsible for nearly 35% of new COVID-19 infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Infection.

“It’s been sort of slowly creeping up over the last six weeks,” said Dr. Alex Greninger, an assistant professor of lab medicine and pathology at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle.

He said he was hopeful that a potential wave of new cases caused by BA.2 won’t eclipse that of the original omicron variant.

Emerging data show people who have been recently infected with the original omicron subvariant are likely protected against a BA.2 infection with symptoms, according to UW Medicine.

Tri-Cities COVID vaccine

A free COVID vaccine clinic is planned 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday March 26 and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m .Sunday March 27 at SuperMex, 720 N. 20th Ave., Pasco.

Public health officials continue to recommend that those who have had COVID-19 also get immunized.

According to the University of Washington School of Medicine the best protection against COVID-19 is hybrid immunity — a combination of immunity from the vaccine and immunity from infection with the coronavirus.

“People who had COVID-19 should definitely get the vaccine,” said Marion Pepper, associate professor in the UW Department of Immunology, who led the research. “Not only does immunity to infection wane over time, but also vaccination is required to create this hybrid immunity.”

Few people continue to be vaccinated, with only a 0.1 point increase in the percentage of people fully vaccinated in each of Washington state, Benton County and Franklin County last week.

Across Washington state 71.5% of residents five and older are considered fully vaccinated by the definition of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In Benton County, 59.3% or residents are fully vaccinated and in Franklin County 56.2% are fully vaccinated.

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 just over 50% in Benton County and just under 43% in Franklin County, according to the Washington state Department of Health.