Even President Trump said today, "I think masks are good."

He did not go so far as to say they should be mandated federally, but here in the Tri-Cities, it will be mandated, and people are still going to fight it. Statistics don't lie, and the stats say we stink when it comes to wearing face coverings. There is no other way to explain the single day record spike in COVID-19 cases over the last 24 hours. Nearly one-quarter of all hospital beds in the Tri-Cities are now patients being treated for coronavirus.

There have been 215 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, with two people passing away in the last day. 147 new Benton County cases, and 68 confirmed cases in Franklin County. Geez people, we are so going in the wrong direction. Benton County has to have a TOTAL of 74 cases over a TWO-WEEK period, to qualify for phase move consideration. Hopefully a move to Phase 1.5 could be possible since the no mask no service mandate is being put in place at the request of the mayors and some of the county commissioners to try and spur on the process.

One Benton County woman who died was in her 50's with no medical history issues and no underlying health problems at all before she got sick and died. Seventy-seven people have passed away in Benton County from COVID-19, Franklin County has had 27 deaths.

The Benton Franklin Health District will issue an order requiring businesses to refuse service to people who aren't wearing masks. The order starts this Monday, July 6th.

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