2 more Tri-Cities COVID deaths. Wastewater shows increase in people infected

The Tri-Cities’ reprieve from deaths due to COVID-19 complications was short.

After no recent deaths announced the third week of April, two more deaths of Tri-Cities area residents were reported last week.

There also were indications that COVID-19 infections may be increasing in the community, including from samples of wastewater. However, infection rates and numbers of severe cases remain far below previous peaks of the pandemic in the Tri-Cities.

The month ended with eight COVID deaths announced by the Benton Franklin Health District, which made it by far the least deadly month for COVID so far in 2022.

In March, 27 recent deaths were reported and there were 43 deaths in February, up from 21 in January.

The Benton Franklin Health District said the recent victims were a Benton County woman in her 60s and a Franklin County man in his 80s.

They bring the total deaths from complications of COVID-19 in the Tri-Cities area since the start of the pandemic to 677. They include 464 residents of Benton County and 213 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, 12,703 residents have died of complications of COVID since the start of the pandemic, including 84 people added to the tally in the last two weeks, according to the Washington state Department of Health.

Tri-Cities COVID hospitalizations

COVID-19 cases have increased in parts of Washington state, particularly in the Puget Sound, and the Tri-Cities may also be starting to see an increase in cases.

Samples of wastewater collected from Tri-Cities treatment plants show more genetic material from the virus in the sewer system, increasing to levels not seen in about two months.

Wastewater is collected for analysis by the Washington state Department of Health from city plants in Kennewick, Pasco, Richland and West Richland.

The new case rate reported this week for Benton and Franklin counties also was up.

The Tri-Cities area had 27 new cases per 100,000 people over seven days. That the highest new case rate reported in April, up from a low of 17 mid month.

The most recent new case rate for Benton County was 31 and for Franklin County was 19.

Public health officials are most concerned about severe cases, which are tracked by hospital data.

The most recent data available, for the seven days ending April 21, showed 13 people hospitalized in Benton and Franklin counties for treatment of COVID-19.

That was up from seven the previous week.

However, the percentage of patients hospitalized for any type of treatment who were positive for COVID-19 was only 1% at the Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals.

Vaccination rates continue to increase at a rate of just 0.1 percentage points a week in the Tri-Cities area.

In Washington state 72.1% of people age 5 and older have received their initial vaccination of one Johnson & Johnson vaccine or two Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.

That drops to 59.9% of people in Benton County and 56.9% of Franklin County residents.

Public health officials are particularly concerned about those most likely to have a severe case of COVID-19 being protected with booster doses.

In Benton County, just 50.5% of those age 12 and older have had a booster and in Franklin County that drops to 42.6%.

This story was originally published April 30, 2022 at 11:40 AM.