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Tri-County Area Touts 93% COVID Recovery Rate

Joe Deacon
/
WCBU

Peoria, Tazewell, and Woodford counties continue to trend in the right direction on COVID-19 case counts, hospitalizations, and deaths.

93% of cases in the Tri-County region since the pandemic began are reported to be recovered. Six percent are at home isolating, and just a tenth of a percentage point are hospitalized.

The three counties reported 134 new cases in the past 24 hours, and one additional death, a Peoria County man in his 70s.

As of Thursday, the entire state was under Phase 4 of Gov. JB Pritzker's Restore Illinois plan. And in the Tri-County region, it appears we're in no immediate danger of renewed enhanced mitigations.

"The good news continues. Our seven-day running average of new cases is now 109, compared to 134 last week," said Peoria City/County Health Department Administrator Monica Hendrickson.

As of Thursday, just 13 people were in a Peoria-area ICU for COVID. Twenty-six were in a non-ICU bed. The area is averaging 12 ICU beds a day over the last seven days. That's down 10 from last week. Med surge is 32 beds in use per day, versus 49 last week.

"All of this is great news, but let's remember what it took for us to get to this," Hendrickson said, reminding the public it's still vital to wear a face covering, socially distance, stay home if you feel sick, and get tested.

Hendrickson also reminded the public of a new online scheduling tool going online for Tazewell County residents on Friday through their health department. The Woodford County Health Department is also working to set up a similar site in the near future.

More commercial vaccination locations are also going online in the near future.

In addition to the HyVee and Walgreens stores already offering COVID-19 vaccine appointments to 1A and 1B patients, the Kroger stores on Lindbergh, Lake, and Sterling in Peoria are also rolling out appointments, as well as the stores in East Peoria, Washington, Chillicothe, Bartonville, and Pekin.

The Walgreens stores on Broadway in Pekin and North Knoxville in Peoria are also slated to begin offering vaccinations soon.

Slightly less than 2.5% of the Tri-County population is fully vaccinated.Tri-County Vaccinations

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Copyright 2021 WCBU. To see more, visit WCBU.

Tim Shelley is the News Director at WCBU Peoria Public Radio.