PEORIA, Ill. — The tri-county saw a resounding 102 new positive tests between Wednesday and Thursday for COVID-19.
The biggest chunk of that number came from Peoria County, where 75 new cases arose. Tazewell reported 21 new cases, while six Woodford residents tested positive.
The numbers reflected what Gov. J.B. Pritzker addressed Thursday while in town, which was the fact the Peoria region’s hospitalization rate has been trending upwards, and could lead to the region’s demotion to phase three of Restore Illinois.
A region must be below the line in two metrics in order to be moved back. Peoria has already done that with the positivity rate that has increased each day over a seven-day period.
Peoria City/County Health Administrator Monica Hendrickson said it hasn’t just increased slightly, but rather exponentially.
“Our data shows our positivity rate has doubled over the past two weeks,” she said.
“Our seven-day average in terms of cases each day has climbed 14 cases in one week, where we average 33 new cases each day in Peoria County.”
Hendrickson also spoke to the hospitalization metric, saying medical-surgical and intensive care units were starting to fill up.
The area’s hospitalization count over the Wednesday-to-Thursday reporting period rose by six, from 35 to 41.
11 of those cases were in intensive care. 30 were non-ICU.
The area’s recovery rate dropped to just below 65%, while over 30% of people were in home isolation, and just under 2% were hospitalized.
