Illinois

Tri-County Reaches 75 COVID-19 Deaths Since Start Of Year

WCBU | By Joe Deacon

Published January 15, 2021 at 2:19 PM CST

Tri-County health officials on Friday reported eight new COVID-19-related deaths, including six victims from Tazewell County.

The latest fatalities bring the region’s death toll since the start of the pandemic to 475, up from 400 reported in the health departments’ last 2020 update on Dec. 30.

Officials reported 274 additional coronavirus infections, bringing the case count to 29,883 since mid-March and 1,437 illnesses in the past week. Active cases moved to 2,781, with 96 patients in Peoria-area hospitals, including 24 in intensive care units.

Five of the six Tazewell County victims were men, including two residents of Aperion Morton Villa – one of whom was in his 40s. The sixth was a woman in her 80s from Generations at Riverview in East Peoria. A Peoria County woman in her 90s from Cornerstone and a Woodford County woman in her 80s also succumbed to the disease.

Data from the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) indicates 14,814 COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Peoria, Tazewell and Woodford counties, and 1,626 residents are now fully vaccinated.

The IDPH reported 6,642 new COVID-19 infections, pushing the state's case total to 1,059,324. An additional 123 fatalities since Thursday bring the state’s to 18,049.

Throughout the state, 447,348 vaccines have been administered. The preliminary seven-day positivity rate has dropped to 7.7% from 9.5% one week ago. Illinois hospitals are treating 3,446 COVID patients, including 712 in intensive care units and 386 on ventilators.

Chicago health department officials and the IDPH also confirmed the first state's first case of the coronavirus variant originally identified in the UK.

COVID-19 in Tri-County

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