Tri-Cities COVID cases soar to highest daily total yet. Counties still look to reopen

Update: The local health district reduced the total cases initially reported on Monday from 86 to 83, moving three of the cases to the Sunday report. This revised story reflects the change.

The Tri-Cities area hit a new record for daily confirmed cases of COVID-19 — 83 reported in one day.

The cases were reported on Monday for the 24-hour period that ended at midnight Sunday.

On Sunday the Benton Franklin Health District reported 43 new confirmed cases and on Saturday it reported 55 new confirmed cases.

The previous high daily counts of confirmed cases were 56 reported on Friday and 54 reported on April 30.

The cases reported for the past three days were evenly split between the two counties, with 88 cases in each, plus four cases that had not been assigned to a county yet.

At a news conference Thursday, the health district said the increase in positive cases seen since about the start of June could not be attributed to additional testing.

Testing in the Tri-Cities area continues to be limited primarily to people with symptoms, with the exception of some outbreaks, including those in nursing homes and the April outbreak at Tyson Fresh Meats beef plant south of Pasco.

Instead, health district officials have attributed the increased cases to the coronavirus being spread broadly through the community, including at workplaces that remain open because businesses are considered essential and at large gatherings.

In a change of policy for the district on Monday, it said it would no longer report probable cases, or those cases for which no test results were available but a person had symptoms and close contact with a confirmed case.

Reopening case targets

The targets set for moving Benton and Franklin counties to Phase 2 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s “Safe Start” program to allow more businesses to reopen considers only confirmed cases.

Benton and Franklin counties are far from meeting targets of no more than 50 cases total over two weeks for Benton County and no more than 24 cases over two weeks for Franklin County.

The counties are expected to submit an application to the state to move to Phase 2 this week, saying that steps are being taken to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.

A health district directive took effect on Monday, June 8, requiring masks be worn in the two counties when people are in public and cannot maintain six feet of distance from non-household members.

The directive, which followed earlier advice from the district, carries no penalties, but public health officers say that more people wearing face coverings could help reduce the spread of the coronavirus.

Washington state Labor and Industries plans to enforce a similar requirement for businesses and their employees that also started Monday.

Confirmed vs probable cases

New data from the health district removes probable cases from earlier reported totals, including for daily case counts.

Early in the pandemic in the Tri-Cities area the local health district was reporting probable cases because little testing was being done.

“We felt it painted a more accurate picture of how the disease spread in our community,” the district said in a statement.

However, few probable cases are being reported now, which is one factor in dropping that reported statistic.

“COVID-19 has challenged our community’s health, economy, mental health and social norms,” the district said. “It also strained our data reporting systems. It is a bit like trying to put out a wildfire with a garden hose.”

The confirmed cases now total 1,793, not counting 307 earlier probable cases.

They include 983 cases in Benton County and 806 in Franklin County, which has roughly half as many people, plus the four cases with no county of residence yet identified.

There were no additional deaths from complications of COVID-19 reported on Monday, leaving the total in the Tri-Cities area at 86.

They include 69 deaths in Benton County and 17 deaths in Franklin County.

The number of patients hospitalized in Benton and Franklin counties for treatment of suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 continues to be high.

The number has climbed over about two weeks from 35 patients to 56 patients on Monday.

They account for nearly 19% of patients in hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser.

However, hospital officials and public health officials say that hospitals continue to be prepared to meet the demands of the COVID-19 outbreak.

This story was originally published June 8, 2020 at 3:04 PM.