PEORIA, Ill. – She says she knew it would happen, but the administrator of the Peoria City/County Health Department says she didn’t think it would happen so soon.
Monica Hendrickson says the number of new COVID-19 cases in the area keeps going up again, and thinks she knows why.
“One, we are moving indoors,” said Hendrickson. “And with that, we are getting into closer proximity, we can’t socially distance as easily, and sadly, we’ve stopped using our masking to its full capacity.”
The number of new COVID cases in the Tri-Counties is now averaging back over 100, sitting as of Thursday at 109 per day, from 88 last week.
“We were able to do activities outdoors, and have airflow and different things happen. As soon as the [temperature] drops, we are inside and closer together,” said Hendrickson. “Especially for our unvaccinated individuals, you are now at a higher risk then you were a few months ago.”
The total number of COVID-19 cases in the Tri-Counties since the pandemic began is at 55,664, up 766 in the last week. A total of 860 people have died, up 10 in the last week.
Peoria County has had a total of 28,136 cases. Tazewell County’s total is at 21,329, and Woodford County is at 6,199. 419 people have died in Peoria County, 335 in Tazewell County, and 106 in Woodford County.
The Tri-Counties saw an increase as well in the number of average number of new hospitalizations at 11, and cases in active home isolation up significantly from 727 last week, to 930 now.
20 people are in the Intensive Care Unit right now in local hospitals, while 60 are using non-ICU beds.
Hendrickson says the majority of the 766 new cases in the Tri-Counties last week were among the unvaccinated, and half were among those over the age of 65.
Meanwhile, Hendrickson says 53 percent of Peoria County residents are considered “fully vaccinated,” while nine percent of five to eleven year olds have had at least one dose.
