PEORIA, Ill. – Local health officials are concerned about what they see as another uptick in confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Tri-County area, after weeks where increases weren’t as high.
Peoria City/County Health Department Administrator Monica Hendrickson is basing that on the seven day rolling average of new cases.
“We were on a road towards decreased community transmission, but are starting to see a very similar trend to what we saw last year,” said Hendrickson. “While I don’t think that this is going to be as extreme, we do need to look seriously at boosters and getting our most newly eligible group vaccinated.”
The seven-day average of new cases in the Tri-Counties sits at 60, and in Peoria County it’s 30, so the numbers still aren’t as high as early in the summer.
Around fifteen percent of new cases the past week are in zero- to nine-year-olds, and more than 17 percent each in the 10-19 and 30-39 age groups. The Tri-Counties saw 843 new cases last week, putting the overall total at 54,280 since the pandemic began, up 420. Peoria County has 27,463 cases, up 207. Tazewell County has 20,826 cases, up 328 in the past week. And, Woodford County has 5,991, up 71.
493 cases are in active isolation at home currently. 25 cases are currently hospitalized. Seven hospitalized cases are in the ICU.
Hendrickson says hospitalizations are still lower at the moment, but she calls that a “lagging indicator.”
The Tri-County region had eleven COVID-related deaths in the past week, bringing that total to 843. Four were in Peoria County, seven in Tazewell County.
“I do think that, overall, we won’t as high of a spike,” said Hendrickson. “I believe when you see more five and 11 year olds get vaccinated, that should have an impact.”
Speaking of five-to-11-year-olds, though, Peoria Public Schools officials plan on vaccinating students in that age group, with parental consent, starting next week.
