PEORIA, Ill. — The Peoria City/County Health Department announced one new COVID-19 case Wednesday at the daily news conference.
This brings the local total in the Tri-County area to nine. There are five cases in Peoria County, three cases in Woodford County and one case in Tazewell County.
Sara Sparkman with the Tazewell County Health Department said the individual who tested positive in Tazewell County was tested positive on Wednesday.
“The individual is a male in his 70’s and is hospitalized,” Sparkman said. “His exposure is not related to travel and he is not [a] close contact of a confirmed case.”
There have been 80 negative tests and 30 are still pending.
“However, the number of COVID confirmed cases is not the whole story in our communities. Staying at home when possible is very important to reduce the spread of COVID-19,” Sparkman said.
The man’s condition in the hospital is not known.
“This is just kind of confirming what we’ve been assuming,” said Sparkman. “We know it’s out there, and we want people to do everything they can to stop the spread.”
The towns in which confirmed cases live in are not given to protect the identity of the individuals.
Dr. Gregg Stoner, Chief Medical Officer for Heartland Health Services, announced that Heartland is developing a mobile clinic to help the homeless.
“This will be servicing initially four organizations, the Salvation Army, Peoria Rescue Ministries, the Dream Center, and Southside Mission,” Stoner said.
The clinic will provide screenings and addressing medical needs.
Stoner said the qualifications for COVID-19 testing have been tightened from recent travel history and contact with a confirmed case.
“It’s now limited even further than that to people who are hospitalized with COVID like illness and where they’ve also ruled out other respiratory like infectious diseases,” Stoner said.
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