PEORIA, Ill. — The Peoria City/County Health Department and Coroner Jamie Harwood have released more details regarding Saturday’s COVID-19-related death, the first such death in the Peoria-Tazewell-Woodford tri-county area.
The patient was a 91-year-old man who passed away at UnityPoint at 3:59 P.M.
The Peoria City/County Health Department said Monday that he was a resident of Bickford Assisted Living in Peoria.
Harwood was declining to release the patient’s name.
“This man, at 91 years of age, has a legacy,” he said.
“I don’t know what that legacy is, but those who know him and love him and descended from him know of that legacy.
“And I do not want his legacy to be the first death from COVID-19 in Peoria County.”
Health Administrator Monica Hendrickson said contact tracing was underway to determine whether or not any other people have contracted the virus from the patient who died.
“There is one other resident who has been tested for COVID, but that is a very close contact. In fact, that’s their significant other,” she said.
“But based on vital logs they’ve been providing, which include temperatures, symptom checks, oxygen levels, and even blood, there are no residents currently symptomatic in the facility.”
She said staff of the facility who work at other locations were being tested, as were staffs and residents of those other locations.
Harwood said the man had been hospitalized for three days. Under investigation was the method in which he contracted the virus.
The Coroner said depending on the man’s preexisting conditions, which were still under investigation, his death certificate could reflect those conditions, as COVID-19 is known to aggravate respiratory diseases like COPD.
Hendrickson said the tri-county was up to 30 cases, up four from Saturday.
Peoria County had 11, Tazewell was up to 13, and Woodford remained at six.
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