PEORIA, Ill. – Local health officials are sounding an alarm now that the Tri-Counties have hit another COVID-19 milestone.
The region has now surpassed 60,000 confirmed COVID cases since the pandemic began (60,120 as of Thursday), with Peoria County alone passing the 30,000 mark, at 30,045, up 787 in the last week.
And with 1,920 new cases locally last week and the seven-day rolling average continuing to go up to 274, that’s not the only high water mark being hit.
“We currently are also seeing the highest positivity rates in the past seven months,” said Monica Hendrickson, administrator, Peoria City/County Health Department. “The surge that is happening is creating an increased burden on our healthcare, and our public health systems.
Hendrickson says while about a quarter of all Intensive Car beds in local hospitals are being used for COVID patients (27 as of Thursday, with 109 non-ICU beds also in use), in the state-designated region including here, that goes up to 33 percent.
Tazewell County, by the way, had more new confirmed cases in the last week than Peoria County, with 925, bringing their total to 23,343. In Woodwford County, 208 additional cases brings their total to 6,732.
2,219 cases are in active isolation at home.
Meanwhile, Hendrickson says at-home or over-the-counter COVID-19 tests you can purchase at places like Walgreens and CVS are both a good thing, and not that helpful.
“These [at-home] tests are really critical at helping to identify your symptoms,” said Hendrickson. “But, it’s also important to note that these tests do not get reported to your hospital systems, they do not get reported to your doctor’s offices, they do not get reported to your health department.
So, Hendrickson says, if you suspect you do indeed have COVID, you need to get what she calls a “lab-associated” test, like at the Peoria Civic Center testing site, or at the Health Department, among other places.
In other developments, Hendrickson says her agency is continuing to help address another surge in COVID-19 cases at the Peoria County Jail. This, as the Sheriffs Department mourns the loss of a jail employee after testing positive for COVID last week.
“The health department and the sheriffs department are doing all the mitigation and working through this,” said Hendrickson. “And, in fact, I believe we’ve also looked to get some state assets in to help relieve some of the pressure that has been on the sheriffs department for testing.”
Hendrickson didn’t say what those state assets would be.
She says ten deaths from COVID-19 have been reported in the last seven days, and two in the last 24 hours, bringing the area’s total to 880.
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