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McLean County's COVID caseload drops as vaccines await for younger children

McLean County Health Department sign
Emily Bollinger
/
WGLT
The McLean County Health Department has reported 195 weekly coronavirus cases.

McLean County's weekly coronavirus caseload dropped below 200 for the first time since July.

Twenty percent of those 195 new cases involve children who have not been eligible to get the COVID vaccine. They make up the largest share of new cases in the county.

The McLean County Health Department (MCHD) has said it's making plans to set up vaccination clinics for children ages 5 to 11, now that the CDC has recommended the vaccine for younger children.

MCHD has scheduled a clinic from 3 to 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 12 at Heartland Head Start in Bloomington and has two clinics planned this month at Grossinger Motors Arena.

Fifty-five coronavirus cases since Oct. 27 in the county have involved people younger than 18.

The health department said 13 McLean County residents are hospitalized with COVID-19. That’s down four from last week. Carle BroMenn Medical Center and OSF St. Joseph Medical Center reported 87% of their beds are in use, including 77% of their intensive care beds.

OSF Children's Hospital of Illinois in Peoria reports it has one COVID inpatient case currently and has had 141 COVID cases since the start of the pandemic.

McLean County’s seven-day testing positivity rate is 1.8% — slightly below the state average — with the county reporting 276 COVID-related deaths since the start of the pandemic.

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Eric Stock is the News Director at WGLT. You can contact Eric at ejstoc1@ilstu.edu.
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