Health officials report 32 McLean County residents are hospitalized with COVID-19, a number that has more than tripled over the last month as coronavirus infections continue to rise, largely among the unvaccinated population.
The McLean County Health Department (MCHD) announced 35 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, bringing the county’s total since the start of the pandemic to 20,950. MCHD said 448 people are isolating at home while 38 people were released from quarantine overnight and 20,221 McLean County residents are considered recovered from COVID-19.
Bloomington-Normal hospitals report 98% of their beds are occupied, including 92% of their intensive care beds. Carle BroMenn Medical Center and OSF St. Joseph Medical Center report they have 36 COVID patients receiving care.
Peoria-based OSF HealthCare released data on Wednesday indicating 82% of its COVID patients who are hospitalized at 14 OSF facilities are unvaccinated. OSF said 90% of its intensive care patients are unvaccinated and 27 of 28 (96%) patients who are on ventilators are not vaccinated. The latest data from Urbana-based Carle Health is similar. As of Monday, 83% of COVID patients at all Carle Health facilities are unvaccinated, including 95% of its patients in intensive care.
The 35 daily positive cases came from a batch of about 2,200 tests returned overnight. McLean County’s seven-day testing positivity rate dropped a half point to 3.6% and the county’s cumulative positivity rate stands at 4.7%, based on more than 449,900 tests conducted since the start of the pandemic.
McLean County’s COVID death toll stands at 249.
COVID vaccines
The Illinois Department of Public Health reported more than 181,800 COVID vaccines have been distributed in McLean County. About 52.7% of the McLean County population is considered fully vaccinated and about 53.6% of the state population is fully vaccinated.
High transmission
All 102 Illinois countiesare now considered to be an in areas of high COVID transmission, with more than 100 new coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents reported in a seven-day period. That's according to metrics adopted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
McLean County’s rate is about 196 new cases in the last seven days as of Wednesday.
