Over the past 24 hours, in Benton and Franklin counties, only 30 total confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported by the Benton Franklin Health District, continuing an encouraging trend of case numbers headed where they absolutely must go to potentially move through phases, modified or otherwise.

Unfortunately, two Benton County residents passed away due to COVID-19 complications. A woman in her 60's and a man in his 80's, both with underlying health issues, succumbed to the coronavirus.

From the weekend, the BFHD reported 53 total confirmed COVID-19 cases on Saturday, 42 total cases on Sunday and now 30, today, Monday August 3rd.

On Monday, Benton County had 14 additional positive cases to report for a total of 3,515 total positive tests, and since July 30, 583 Benton County residents have been tested for a total of 20,791 tests.

On Monday in Franklin County, 16 additional cases tested positive for a total of 3,325 and since July 30, 507 people were tested bringing that total to 9,982 tests in Franklin County, with no deaths being reported.

The heat map index graphic has been unavailable for about two weeks, so there is no visual, but the breakdown of cases in each individual city in Benton and Franklin counties is still there.

Now into August, schools around the country are using vastly different approaches to try and best set up getting back to class safely, but there is little consensus. Even in Tri-Cities there is but a little uniformity on how to approach learning, locally, moving forward.

82% of parents nationwide say they're very worried about sending their kids back to school.

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