PEORIA, Ill. – To say the local hospital system is taxed right now due to COVID-19 and other serious illnesses might be a bit of an understatement.
Peoria City/County Health Department Administrator Monica Hendrickson says overall, 89 percent of Intensive Care Unit beds in local hospitals are in use, and Emergency Rooms are getting “flooded” with COVID and other problems, and they really shouldn’t be.
“Our [Emergency Departments] are getting flooded with people coming for monoclonal antibody treatments as well as COVID testing,” said Hendrickson, “on top of those that are coming in for significant complications related to COVID.”
Hendrickson says both are available outside of an ER setting.
“Individuals [who] are wanting monoclonal antibody treatment need to be talking to their primary care provider. This treatment is not available in our Emergency Departments, but is routine, and is accessible to our community.”
Same, Hendrickson says, for COVID testing, which is available at any of a number of designated sites in the area, most notable in the Peoria Civic Center Parking lot.
This comes as a spike in local new cases continues in the area — which Hendrickson says is now as bad as it was in March, and is mostly among unvaccinated people still.
The Tri-County region is now reporting a total of 62,150 confirmed COVID-19 cases, an increase of 2,030 in the past week. The seven-day rolling average is now at 290 new cases per day.
In Peoria County, 914 additional cases brought the pandemic total to 30,959. In Tazewell County, an increase of 894 cases brings their total to 24, 237. And, Woodford County had 222 new cases in the last week, bringing their total to 6.954.
The Tri-Counties saw 15 deaths in the last week, and five in the last 24 hours. Peoria County now has 435 deaths, an increase of 10. Tazewell County is at 352 deaths, an increase of 5. Woodford County has 108 deaths, unchanged in the last week.
2,515 COVID cases are in active home isolation, an increase of 300 in the last week.
39 COVID patients are in local Intensive Care Units, with 113 cases in non-ICU beds. The average is now at 36 ICU patients, and 115 non-ICU patients. 89 percent of ICU beds in the Tri-County hospitals overall are currently in use.
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