Bloomington-Normal hospitals are nearly full as coronavirus hospitalizations match their highest total in nearly four months.
The McLean County Health Department (MCHD) said Wednesday 99% percent of hospital beds at Carle BroMenn Medical Center and OSF St. Joseph Medical Center have someone in them. Also, 92% of intensive care beds are occupied.
Hospital officials have said they have the ability to add more beds, but staffing is the challenge. Twenty-nine McLean County residents are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, while Bloomington-Normal hospitals said they have 42 COVID patients receiving care.
McLean County added 393 coronavirus cases in the last week, including 84 new cases since Tuesday. That weekly total is the county’s lowest in nearly a month.
People in their 20s make up the largest group (86), followed by children under age 12 who are not yet eligible to receive the COVID vaccine (71). Over half of the weekly cases involve people under age 30.
MCHD said 454 people are isolating at home and 20,183 people have been released from quarantine and are considered recovered. The 84 positive tests came from a batch of about 800 tests returned overnight.
The county's seven-day testing positivity rate jumped to 4.1%. That's a bit lower than the state average. The cumulative positivity rate is 4.7 in McLean County, based on more than 447,600 tests conducted since the start of the pandemic.
There have been 249 COVID-related deaths reported in McLean County since March 2020.
COVID vaccines
Data from the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) show more than 181,500 COVID vaccines have been administered in McLean County. The county’s rate of fully vaccinated is 52.6% and has increased 3% in the last month.
The statewide vaccination rate is 53.5%.
