McLean County has had its biggest one-day surge in new coronavirus cases in more than four months.
The county announced 101 new cases on Friday. That’s the highest total of new cases reported from a single day since April 9, according to data provided by the McLean County Health Department (MCHD) and compiled by WGLT. The positive tests came from a batch of nearly 2,000 tests returned overnight.
The county has had 19,800 coronavirus cases and 242 COVID-related deaths since the start of the pandemic.
McLean County remains under a warning designation from the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) because of an increase in new cases and emergency room visits. DeWitt, Tazewell and Woodford counties also are under a warning designation. The IDPH alert doesn’t trigger mitigations, but it calls on the public to consider additional safety precautions.
Nineteen McLean County residents are hospitalized with COVID-19, while Bloomington-Normal hospitals report they have 33 COVID patients receiving care.
There are 448 people isolating at home while 58 people have been released from quarantine since Thursday and 19,091 people are considered recovered from COVID-19.
McLean County’s seven-day testing positivity rate rose to 4.6%. That’s lower than state and national averages. The county’s cumulative positivity rate is 4.8% based on more than 414,800 tests conducted since March 2020.
Breakthrough cases
McLean County and Illinois health officials have said they don’t have county-level data available on breakthrough hospitalizations — cases in which someone fully vaccinated contracts the coronavirus.
IDPH spokesperson Melaney Arnold said 73% of breakthrough hospitalizations in Illinois involve people 65 and older and 27% of those in the hospital are between the ages of 12 and 64.
IDPH said 1,056 vaccinated people are hospitalized in Illinois, while breakthrough cases make up 3.1% of all COVID deaths in Illinois since January.
COVID vaccines
Data from IPDH also show 177,741 COVID vaccines have been put in arms in McLean County. The county’s rate of fully vaccinated is 51.4%. The statewide average is 52.3%.
IDPH indicates more than 77% of adults in Illinois have received at least one vaccine dose.
