PEORIA, Ill. — COVID-19 cases have gone down slightly over the past few days in the Tri-County area, according to Peoria City/County Health Department Administrator Monica Hendrickson.
She told WMBD’s “The Greg and Dan Show”, what really concerning right now is an increase of local hospitalizations due to COVID.
Two variant strains of the virus, B-117 and P-1 are showing up in the Peoria area, fueling an increase in cases.
“It is much more variant…which means it will make people sicker, as well it spreads faster. Not everyone is vaccinated yet, so it can take hold rather quickly,” Hendrickson said.
Hendrickson adds, “with approximately 25% of the local population fully vaccinated, a lot of people have let their guard down, thinking they won’t get COVID.”
Illinois overall is doing a fairly good job of reducing the number of COVID-19 cases, but in Peoria and Bloomington areas, there’s been a surge in cases among younger residents, 19 and under, that for the most part haven’t been able to get vaccinated.
Hendrickson said that local ICU capacity at our hospitals is a real concern right now.
“ICU capacity is below 20%, currently it’s around 18%,” Hendrickson said.
Although vaccines are readily available locally, Hendrickson said COVID cases continue to rise.
Contract tracing has shown many cases aren’t necessarily coming from restaurants and bars or public places, but more so in private gatherings.
“Somebody decides to host a sleepover for their kid’s basketball team…or something of that nature that’s spreading it faster,” Hendrickson said.
As of Sunday, 38 Tri-County ICU beds were being used for COVID patients and 138 non-ICU beds were also being used due to the virus.
