PEORIA, Ill. — With a positivity rate of 12%, Peoria County has more new cases of COVID-19 than any other area of Illinois.
Dr. Doug Kasper, with the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Peoria, confirms the recent announcement that the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine was being put on hold definitely has slowed vaccination rates nationally and locally.
Despite a rise in COVID cases and hospitalizations, Kasper told WMBD’s “The Greg and Dan Show”, we haven’t seen any new mitigations.
“We are finding a way to continue to be open and to move forward. So, it’s definitely a different mind set than how we did it in the past,” Kasper said.
A year ago, Kasper said, everything would have been shut down for 12%.
The Peoria and Bloomington areas are currently dealing with a surge in COVID cases among people 19-years-old and younger, a group that hasn’t been able to get vaccinated for the most part.
Many of the new cases aren’t coming from public places or restaurants or bars, but from private gatherings that can’t be monitored.
Kasper said getting the nation to a 70% vaccination rate for COVID-19, which would likely bring a full opening nationwide, is unfortunately still weeks or months off.
In the meantime, health officials are focused on getting as many people vaccinated as possible.
“We know vaccine-derived immunity is 10 times greater than natural immunity,” Kasper said.
Variant strains of COVID are spreading quickly and more easily.
“It will be a little trickier to get the next group vaccinated in a timely manner,” Kasper said.
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