PEORIA, Ill. – A “steady decline”.
That’s how Peoria City/County Health Department Administrator Monica Hendrickson describes the average number of new COVID-19 cases in the Tri-County area since the peak of the Omicron variant.
As of Thursday, there are now 90,802 confirmed cases since the pandemic began. Peoria County increase 520 cases in the last week, to 45,295. Tazewell County increased 468 cases, to 35,341. And, Woodford County added 143 cases, bringing their total to 10,166.
There have been a total of 1,088 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, bringing the Tri-County total to 1,088.
As of Thursday, 21 Intensive Care Unit beds are in use for COVID patients at local hospitals, while 64 non-ICU beds are also in use. Hendrickson said the region including the Tri-Counties is close to having 20 percent of its ICU beds available.
In all cases, the seven-day averages, are continuing to drop.
Hendrickson says the state has already been in contact with her about the lifting of Illinois’ indoor mask mandate at the end of the month, which she admits might not be good for everyone.
“All of us are going to, hopefully, get out of this and cross the finish line at some time,” said Hendrickson. “But, it’s going to be at each individual’s ability, and what they feel comfortable with.”
Hendrickson, at Thursday’s Tri-County COVID briefing, now is the time for an important lesson to be learned.
“We should be teaching tolerance, and understanding that not everything is easy for individuals,” said Hendrickson. “That’s not going to be something we can express on to others, saying, ‘now, hey, take off your mask. It’s the 28th. You can take it off.’”
On the other side, Hendrickson says tolerance also needs to be shown to those who are more than ready to un-mask, and might be dealing with a lot of anxiety on their end, too.
