PEORIA, Ill. – The Peoria City/County Health Department gave an update on local positive COVID-19 cases on Thursday, and it was the largest increase in cases to date, with 12.
53 confrimed cases have been reported in Peoria, 32 in Tazewell, and 11 in Woodford.
Health Administrator Monica Hendrickson said half of the new dozen cases were diagnosed through the Heartland Health Clinic testing site.
Of the 53 confirmed cases in Peoria County, seven were hospitalized, she said. Thirty-two cases have recovered.
Following the governor’s announcement to extend the stay-at-home order through May, Hendrickson said it is important to still stay home.
“Because from a contact tracing point, when we still get those positives instead of trying to hunt down 50 or 60 people you might work with, or see on a day to day basis, it’s going to be much more limited so we can still do that controlling and contact tracing,” Hendrickson said.
Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis urged residents to remain compliant with the extended stay at home order to understand the local numbers and how affected the area is.
“And, perhaps give us some talking points with the governor and his staff in a couple more weeks in terms of if there is a potential opportunity in our state to allow different areas of the state to perhaps have more relaxed rules,” Ardis said.
