PEORIA, Ill. — Region Two of Illinois has been looking forward to a return in the near future to phase four of Restore Illinois from tier three COVID-19 mitigation, but those plans on Friday encountered a minor speed bump.
The region’s rolling seven-day positivity rate, which needs to be less than or equal to 6.5% for three consecutive days, ticked slightly upwards to 6.7%, after sitting the two previous days at 6.6%.
The other two metrics the region must meet, which concern the number of patients in the hospital and intensive care unit bed availability, continued to meet their needed marks.
Regions three, five, and six as of Friday had all been returned to phase four.
On a more local level, the Peoria City/County Health Department reported three deaths between Thursday and Friday related to COVID-19.
A Peoria County woman in her 90s who lived at Lutheran Hillside succumbed to the virus, as did two Woodford County men in their 70s, neither of whom were associated with long-term care facilities.
Adding in Tazewell, 165 tri-county residents between Thursday and Friday received positive test results. 71 are Tazewell residents, 70 live in Peoria, and the other 24 were in Woodford.
81 people were in hospitals as of Friday afternoon with the virus. 26 of them were ICU-level.
