CDC ups Benton County’s COVID infection ranking. More people have died

Benton County is now among those in Washington state that the Centers for disease Control and Prevention ranks as having “medium” COVID-19 community levels, up from “low” levels.

The increased rating comes as four more residents of the Tri-Cities area have died recently of complications of COVID-19.

The CDC ranks counties based on the number of new COVID-19 cases, hospital beds used by patients with COVID and hospital admissions for people with the disease.

Franklin County remains among the 21 counties in Washington with “low” levels, according to the state.

The 16 counties with “medium” levels include Walla Walla, Spokane, Garfield and Douglas counties in Eastern Washington. And two counties in northwest Washington, Clallam and Jefferson, have “high” levels, according to the CDC.

The CDC says that people at high risk for severe disease in counties like Benton with medium COVID-19 community levels should at least talk to their doctor about whether they should be wearing a mask, and people in contact with those at high risk should wear a mask when indoors with them.

Many public health officials in Washington state recommend wearing masks in crowded spaces as COVID cases are increasing in many counties.

COVID-19 Tri-Cities deaths

The four deaths reported by the Benton Franklin Health District this week bring the COVID death toll since the start of the pandemic to 688, including 473 Benton County residents and 215 Franklin County residents.

The most recent deaths included a Benton County woman in her 40s, a Benton County woman in her 70s, a Franklin County man in his 70s and a Franklin County man in his 80s.

In May seven deaths were reported, down from eight in April.

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, 13,046 residents have died of complications of COVID since the start of the pandemic, including 127 in the past two weeks, according to data from the Washington state Department of Health.

Tri-Cities cases, hospitalizations

The new COVID-19 case rate for Benton and Franklin counties has more than doubled over the last 30 days, but remains well below previous peaks of the pandemic.

However, cases are likely under reported now that at-home tests are commonly used, with results not reported to public health agencies.

The two Tri-Cities counties combined had 119 new cases per 100,000 people over seven days, according to the last new case rate reported. That’s up from 43 reported a month ago.

The current Benton County new case rate is 134 and the Franklin County new case rate is 88.

The average number of hospital patients with COVID-19 in the two counties over seven days has spiked to a number not seen for three months, according to data from the Benton Franklin Health District.

It reported 21 new COVID-19 patients in the Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser hospitals in the week ending June 2, the most recent data available. That’s up about 50% from the previous week.

A third way of watching for case levels, checking for genetic material in wastewater, also is showing an increase in COVID-19. Current levels are up to those detected in January from samples collected in Kennewick, Pasco, Richland and West Richland.

Tri-Cities COVID vaccination

The percentage of people in Benton and Franklin counties age 12 and older who have received COVID-19 boosters has not increased in a month.

During the recent Omicron surge, those who got a Covid-19 vaccine booster were 21 times less likely to die from COVID-19 compared to those who were unvaccinated, and 7 times less likely to be hospitalized, the Department of Health said, citing the CDC.

In Benton County just 50.5% have received at least one booster. The percentage falls to 42.5% in Franklin County.

In May, the CDC also recommended that children age 5-11 also receive a booster dose five months after completing the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination series, but county data on boosters in that age group is not available yet from the Washington state Department of Health.

People in the Tri-Cities area who have received their initial COVID-19 vaccination continue to lag behind those across Washington state.

Statewide, 72.6% of residents age 5 and older have received their initial vaccination doses, compared to 60.3% in Benton County and 57.3% in Franklin County.

Over the last month the Benton County vaccination percentage increased by 0.3 point and the Franklin County percentage increased by 0.2 point.

This story was originally published June 11, 2022 at 12:24 PM.