More COVID deaths in Tri-Cities area. Vaccines urged before holiday gatherings
Coronavirus in the Tri-Cities area continues to decrease, but residents are still dying from COVID-19, according to data from the Benton Franklin Health District.
Officials with the district continue to urge people to get both their annual flu vaccine and any shots needed to be fully up to date on their COVID-19 vaccinations, including the newest booster that provides the best protection against the omicron variant of the virus.
A worse than normal flu season and a rebound of COVID are possible later this fall and into the winter, the traditional annual season for respiratory infections, according to public health officials.
Both vaccines take at least two weeks to become fully effective, so they are recommended now ahead of holiday season gatherings and travel.
An advisory panel of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week recommended adding the COVID-19 vaccine to its schedule of recommended routine vaccinations for children and adults.
The advice next goes to the full CDC, which makes recommendations but not mandates.
As The Associated Press reported in a fact check of claims about the vaccine recommendation, states have the authority to enact state laws requiring vaccination, not the CDC.
People ages 5 and older who have finished their primary series of the vaccine or one of the original boosters at least two months ago may receive one of the new omicron boosters.
People who have had COVID recently may consider delaying their next vaccine dose or booster by three months from when symptoms started.
However, anyone at risk of severe disease or infecting a loved one at risk of severe disease, may not want to wait for three months, according to the CDC.
Tri-Cities COVID
The Benton Franklin Health District this week reported two more recent deaths of Tri-Cities area residents from complications of COVID-19 to bring the death toll since the start of the pandemic to 730 in the two-counties.
The most recent deaths were a Benton County man in his 60s and a Franklin County woman in her 70s.
They are the second and third deaths announced so far this month in the two counties.
Other COVID data for the Tri-Cities area improved over the last week.
The concentration of genetic material in untreated municipal wastewater samples collected in Kennewick, Pasco, Richland and West Richland dropped to a level not measured since spring.
The number of residents hospitalized for COVID treatment in Benton and Franklin County dropped to 13 over a week, down from 19 reported a month ago and 26 reported two months ago.
The confirmed new case rate also was down, although public health officials have less confidence in that data now that so many cases are detected with home test kits and results not reported to the Washington state Department of Health.
Benton and Franklin counties had a combined new case rate reported Thursday of 34 new cases per 100,000 people in a week. That’s down from a new case rate of 113 a month ago and 179 two months ago.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave every county in Washington state a COVID community rating of “low” for the week on Thursday.
That was an improvement from a week ago when Walla Walla and Columbia counties had a rating of “medium.”
The CDC bases its COVID community level ratings not only on new case rates, but also hospital beds used by patients with COVID and hospital admissions for people with the disease.
This story was originally published October 22, 2022 at 10:12 AM.