2,200+ new COVID cases in 1 day in Tri-Cities. National Guard arrives to help

Ten members of the Washington state National Guard have arrived in the Tri-Cities to provide help for the community’s largest hospital as it is slammed with patients during the omicron wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

They are helping out as the Benton Franklin Health District announced a record 2,224 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday.

The National Guard won’t be setting up an additional testing site as originally expected, however.

Testing supplies are limited, and the guard was not coming with additional supplies.

The decision was made with the Benton Franklin Health District to instead have them help with nonmedical tasks at Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland, said Reza Kaleel, Kadlec chief executive, at a news briefing Tuesday.

The National Guard is test fitting N95 masks, working with the materials management team to get supplies to departments where they are needed, watching patients, and moving patients from triage to treatment areas.

Their help over 30 days is welcome as Kadlec, like other hospitals in Benton and Franklin counties, have seen a steep rise in COVID-19 patients this month and have medical, caregiving and support staff out sick as the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus spreads through the community, said Kadlec officials.

On Tuesday, the Benton Franklin Health District announced 1,543 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Benton County and 681 new cases in Franklin County.

Daily case reports can vary as labs work to process large numbers of test samples collected across the state of Washington.

About 23% of the positive cases reported to local health officials since the start of the pandemic were from this month.

That’s about 15,100 cases of the nearly 65,600 positive cases in Benton and Franklin counties.

And cases being announced now do not include people rapid home tests, rather than getting tests that require laboratory processing, according to health officials in Benton and Franklin counties.

The new case rate for both counties announced on Tuesday was 3,154 new cases per 100,000 over two weeks.

That means about three of every 100 residents in the Tri-Cities area tested positive over two weeks, according to laboratory results.

In Franklin County, the case rate was 3,712 new cases per 100,000 over two weeks and in Benton County the case rate was 2,892.

The Benton Franklin Health District reported 97 patients being treated for COVID-19 at the hospitals in Benton and Franklin counties on Tuesday.

That is triple the number at the start of January and is approaching the high of 127 patients being treated for COVID-19 in September.

Although infection with the omicron variant often leads to less severe illness than the delta variant that created the last surge of COVID-19, particularly if people have been vaccinated, the sheer number of cases has kept hospitals across Washington state full.

‘Significant strain’

Kadlec’s COVID-19 patient count was 64 on Tuesday, which was lower for that hospital than its count last week, Kaleel said.

That’s one in every four of its patients, he said.

About half of the patients with COVID-19 were admitted for other reasons, with COVID-19 complicating their care, Kaleel said.

However, they still need the same infection control measures as those admitted for treatment of COVID.

“It is a significant strain on our caregivers and providers to don and doff personal protective equipment to go into that room,” said Dr. Kevin Pieper, Kadlec chief medical officer. “It makes it harder for our caregivers to connect with those patients and provide the support they need.”

With the shortage of testing supplies that persists across the nation, Kadlec has asked people not to come to the emergency department for testing.

Emergency departments should be reserved for those with significant symptoms such as shortness of breath or high fever that cannot be controlled, Pieper said.

Kadlec is following Gov. Jay Inslee’s order to halt non-urgent procedures and surgeries for four weeks to make sure there is enough staff and capacity for ill and injured patients.

The standard set in Inslee’s order requires delays in procedures if that is not anticipated to cause harm to patients within 90 days.

Potential harm could include expected advancement of disease, severe pain, deterioration of overall health or leaving a patient more vulnerable to COVID-19.

Tri-Cities COVID testing

Even without a new National Guard testing site, the Tri-Cities still has free community testing sites in Pasco and Richland.

Many pharmacies also offer testing and sell home test kits, although they are in short supply now.

The Benton Franklin Health District maintains a list of where testing is available in the two-county area at covid19.bfhd.wa.gov/testing-sites.

For a free drive-thru test in Pasco, go to the Columbia Basin College site at 3110 W. Argent Road.

It is open 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. everyday but Wednesdays and Thursdays.

The free walk-up tests in Richland are offered at 975 George Washington Way.

The site is open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day of the week except Friday and Saturday, according to the Benton Franklin Health District.

It also stays open Wednesdays and Thursdays until 5 p.m., says Bernie Ragul, the site supervisor who works with Columbia Safety.

Preregistering online can save some time at either of the community test sites but is not required. Go to covid19.bfhd.wa.gov/testing-sites.

The two free testing sites have started prioritizing testing for people who have been exposed to COVID-19 or have possible symptoms, rather than people who need tests to travel or to attend events. Those people are asked to check with pharmacies for a test.