Franklin County has the second highest rate of new confirmed COVID cases in Washington state, and Benton County is fifth, according to the Harvard Global Health Institute.

Among the Pacific Coast states, Franklin ranks 12th, according to the institute, which tracks a seven day average of new cases per 100,000 people. The most recent data was released Wednesday.

The Washington state Department of Health says daily case counts have skyrocketed statewide, with the seven-day count of new cases through Nov. 13 four times higher than on Sept. 13.

If disease rates continue at the same pace, by early December the number of daily hospital admissions could be double current numbers, according to a statement by the state.

If the trend does not reverse, hospitals will have reduced ability to care for patients both with and without COVID-19, state officials said last week.

“The situation is incredibly urgent and there is still time to turn the tide before our hospitals become overwhelmed,” said Secretary of Health John Wiesman.

Hospitals in Benton and Franklin counties were treating as many as 56 COVID patients a day during the last week.

That was 15% of all patients in the Tri-Cities and Prosser hospitals. That’s up from as few as 27 to 29 COVID patients earlier this month.

The county in the state with the current highest one-week average daily rate is Adams County, just north of Franklin County, with 105 new cases daily per 100,000 people, according to the Harvard Global Health Institute.

Franklin County has 81 new cases daily per 100,000 for the same time period, followed by Spokane County with 62 and Walla Walla County with just over 56.

Benton County is next with 56 cases per 100,000 on average.

Whitman, Clark, Stevens, Grant and Yakima counties follow, according to the Harvard Global Health Institute.

All 10 counties with the highest case rates are in Eastern Washington, with King County, home to Seattle, ranking next with an average of 35 new confirmed cases per 100,000 per day.

Looking at the counties in Pacific Coast states, California has six counties with higher rates than Franklin County, Oregon has one and Alaska has three, plus Adams County in Washington with a higher rate, according to the data compiled by the Harvard Global Health Institute.

However, the Tri-Cities case rate is not as high as many counties in Idaho.

Idaho’s statewide case daily rate matches the 81 new daily cases on average per 100,000 in Franklin County.

Eighteen counties in Idaho have a higher case rate than Franklin County, with Clearwater County in northern Idaho having an average of 307 new cases daily per 100,000.

The Benton Franklin Health District did not plan to release updated case numbers while its epidemiologist is off from Thanksgiving through Sunday.

But for the past weekend through Wednesday the greater Tri-Cities area was averaging 206 cases per day.

The Washington state Department of Health reports that cases are increasing in all age groups, including older people, who are more likely to become seriously ill, require hospitalization and stay in a hospital for longer.

Statewide the largest increases are occurring in ages 25 to 39 and 40 to 59, but rising trends in those over 60 are particularly concerning, according to the state health department.

“Reductions in transmission ultimately depend on changes in individual behaviors, and in particular on reductions in indoor gatherings where most transmission is currently occurring,” according to the latest Washington Situation Report by the Institute for Disease Modeling in cooperation with other agencies.

In its Monday report it estimated that each person infected with the coronavirus was infecting an average of 1.5 other people in the state, with the transmission rate slightly higher in Eastern Washington than Western Washington.

Each person has to infect fewer than one other person on average to reduce the spread of the virus.