Two more McLean County residents have died of COVID-19. The McLean County Health Department (MCHD) said Friday the latest deaths involved a man in his 30s and a man in his 80s. Neither was associated with a long-term care facility.
Those are in addition to the four deaths reported earlier this week, pushing the county’s COVID death toll since the start of the pandemic to 251.
Hospital capacity remains tight as 97% of Bloomington-Normal hospital beds are occupied, while 88% of intensive care beds have someone in them. Carle BroMenn Medical Center and OSF St. Joseph Medical Center report they have 31 COVID patients receiving care. That’s down five from Thursday.
Data from Carle Health and OSF HealthCare, which operate the two medical facilities, have indicated more than 80% of their hospitalized COVID patients and over 90% of the ICU patients across their health care systems are not vaccinated.
McLean County announced 92 new coronavirus cases on Friday. More than 21,000 McLean County residents have contracted the coronavirus since the pandemic began. The latest positive tests came from a batch of about 3,000 tests returned overnight. MCHD said 490 people are isolating at home, while 50 people were released from quarantine overnight and 20,271 people are considered recovered from COVID-19.
The county’s testing positivity rate inched up to 3.7%, while its cumulative positivity rate dipped to 4.6%, based on more than 452,900 tests conducted since March 2020.
Risk alert
McLean County remains under a COVID-19 risk alert based on data from the Illinois Department of Public Health. The county continues to exceed the state’s target of weekly coronavirus cases, with 237 new cases per 100,000 residents from Aug. 29 to Sept. 4. McLean County also remains below the 20% target of ICU bed capacity (18.3%). Eighty-nine of Illinois’ 102 counties, including all of central Illinois, are under a risk alert warning.
Vaccination clinic
MCHD is hosting a free COVID vaccination clinic during Make Music Normal in Uptown Normal this weekend. The clinic will be open from 5-7 p.m. Friday and from 1-4 p.m. Saturday.
According to data from IDPH, more than 182,000 vaccines have been puts in arms in McLean County. The county’s rate of fully vaccinated is 52.7%. The statewide average is 53.7%.
