PEORIA, Ill. – The head of the Peoria City/County Health Department says she talks with Peoria Public Schools and others still talk frequently about COVID-19, even as parents are split on whether the district should continue its mask rule.
“The intent of…Peoria Public Schools has always been to keep their students, staff, and families safe,” said Monica Hendrickson, administrator.
Hendrickson, at what she says will be the last COVID-19 briefing for awhile Thursday, says there are settings like schools where people are still at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19.
There continues to be more new COVID-19 cases in the Tri-County area, but not nearly at the levels of previous months.
It hearkens back to a much simpler time, last year.
“I distinctly remember, we were seeing one case a day, and we thought that was incredible, and this was the end of it all,” said Hendrickson. “But, again, the virus is smart. It can mutate. It can change. So, we saw a new variant (in both Delta and Omicron).”
And, Hendrickson says it’s always possible something like that could happen again.
This time, though, she’s cautiously optimistic that the data is trending toward an “endemic” — or, at least, to a point were we just “co-exist” with COVID.
She says people need to respect one another’s choices when it comes to masking, especially as comfort levels with the virus vary.
As of Thursday, the Tri-County has seen a total of 91,996 new cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, an increase of 543 over the past week. Peoria County now has 45,903 cases (an increase of 293 in the last week), Tazewell County has 35, 789 cases (an increase of 193), and Tazewell County has 10,304 cases (an increase of 57).
The Tri-County area has had 1,115 deaths, an increase of 16. Peoria County is now up to 551 deaths (an increase of four in the past week), Tazewell County with 435 deaths (an increase of 6), and Woodford County with 129 cases (an incraese of 6).
The seven-day new case average is at 78, down from 93 in the last week. There are ten people currently in local hospital Intensive Care Units, with a seven day average of 13 per day. Non-ICU bed use is at 41, with a seven day average of 42.
