McLean County reported a rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations and testing positivity on Friday as the county remains in a COVID warning area, based on Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) guidelines.
The McLean County Health Department (MCHD) announced 35 new coronavirus cases and 10 COVID hospitalizations — an increase of two hospitalizations from Thursday. Carle BroMenn Medical Center and OSF St. Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington report they both have five COVID patients under their care.
The 35 new positive tests came from a batch of about 700 coronavirus tests returned overnight. The county’s seven-day testing positivity rate rose from 3.1% to 4.2% overnight. That’s the county’s highest positivity rate since May 8 and it exceeds the state average of 4%. The county’s cumulative positivity rate is 4.8%, based on more than 388,800 tests conducted since the start of the pandemic.
MCHD said 155 people are isolating at home and 19 people have been released from quarantine since Thursday. The county indicates 18,428 people have completed their time in quarantine and are considered recovered.
The county’s COVID death toll since the start of the pandemic is 241.
McLean County maintained its warning status with IDPH, based on the number of COVID cases and hospital emergency department visits from July 18-24. The county reported a rate of 62 new coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents. The state warning benchmark is 50 per 100,000 residents. The county’s rate of COVID-related ER visits has increased three straight weeks.
Peoria and Champaign counties also are under state warning alerts. The warning designation is intended for local health officials to consider targeted strategies to reduce COVID transmission. McLean County remains an area of substantial COVID transmission, based on metrics the Centers for Disease Control has used to push for indoor mask mandates.
Vaccines
Meanwhile, McLean County topped 170,000 COVID vaccination doses on Friday. The county’s rate of fully vaccinated is 48.8%, compared to the state rate of 50.8%. Nearly 84,400 McLean County residents are fully vaccinated, according to IDPH.
The county has several mobile vaccination clinics planned, but it has closed its site at Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington. The county will partner with the Bloomington-Normal NAACP for a clinic from 10 a.m. to 1 p. m. on Saturday at Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church in Bloomington and Aug. 4-7 during the McLean County Fair at the Interstate Center grounds in west Bloomington.
COVID testing
The COVID-19 testing site at the Interstate Center will remain open indefinitely, following an announcement by Pekin-based Reditus Labs. IDPH decided to keep its community-based testing sites open because of concerns about the rising caseloads and the spread of the highly-contagious Delta variant.
The site will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday until further notice.
