PEORIA, Ill. — The Peoria-Tazewell-Woodford tri-county area has reached the triple-digit threshold of positive COVID-19 cases.
Peoria County reported 57 positive cases, while Woodford reported 11, and Tazewell reported 33, equaling 101.
No new deaths were reported, keeping the count at six.
OSF and UnityPoint reported 17 ICU beds were in use. Ten were occupied by people with confirmed cases, and seven were taken by suspected cases.
Of the 57 cases in Peoria County, 32 had recovered, while 14 were self-isolating, and the other nine were in hospitals.
Three of the five cases reported between Thursday and Friday were diagnosed at the Heartland Health Clinic, and as of 3 P.M. Friday, the clinic had administered its allotted daily limit of 150 tests.
Health Administrator Monica Hendrickson reiterated the importance of local testing sites.
“In the tri-county, between March 16 and April 17, we reported close to 8,000 tests completed in a 33-day period. To give perspective, in the past four days, Heartland Health Services was able to do 600 tests,” she said.
“That would have been about seven percent of tests done in the prior 33 days of that time period.”
While those numbers seem low, Hendrickson put them in perspective.
“While the numbers might seem low, think of it in this sense: more than one out of ten individuals we’ve tested so far have come back positive.”
Peoria County Sheriff Brian Asbell said their message remains consistent.
“Our first goal is education followed by enforcement,” Asbell said. “And, that’s continued to be the case as we move forward. Every situation is unique and we look at the totality of the circumstances, and that’s how we do the enforcement.”
Peoria Police Chief Loren Marion III said one individual who intentionally coughed on shoppers at Aldi on University on April 1 was taken into custody Thursday for aggravated battery.
“We are taking this very seriously, and will not tolerate those types of incidents,” Marion said.
Both Marion and Asbell said their departments are looking for compliance.
“For us to eventually get out of this, we are going to have to work together as a community, and that’s not just Peoria County it’s the whole area. It’s working collectively to get us to the next step.
“I think the more we resist, the longer we’ll probably be in this status,” Asbell said.
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