McLean County continues to see improving COVID data as spread of the omicron variant appears to slow, but the county reports four more COVID-related deaths and no further reduction in hospitalizations.
The McLean County Health Department (MCHD) on Monday said the latest deaths include a man in his 70s and women in their 50s, 80 and 90s. None were associated with a long-term care facility. The county has reported 26 COVID-related in January and 337 deaths since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
Twenty-seven McLean County residents are hospitalized with COVID-19. That’s up three from Friday after a sharp drop last week.
Bloomington-Normal hospitals are at 97% capacity. Carle BroMenn and OSF St. Joseph medical centers indicate 85% of their intensive care beds are occupied. They have 36 COVID patients under their care. That’s unchanged since Friday.
The hospitals report data which shows a vast majority of their COVID patients are either unvaccinated or not up to date on booster shots.
Caseloads drop
MCHD said 1,911 people are isolating at home. The county’s current caseload fell below 2,000 for the first time since Dec. 28.
The daily caseload in the last week (333) is less than half of what the county saw about two weeks ago (783 as of Jan. 13).
McLean County’s seven-day testing positivity rate fell to 7.3%, its lowest mark since Dec. 23.
School cases
New coronavirus cases in Bloomington-Normal schools are down significantly since their mid-January peak.
Normal-based Unit 5 has seen a 35% drop in its caseload among students and staff in two weeks. The district reported 426 new cases from Jan. 23-29, according to its COVID dashboard. District 87's caseload is about half of what it was two weeks ago. The smaller Bloomington district indicated it had 93 new cases among students and 29 among staff from Jan. 24-28, according to the district’s online dashboard.
McLean County’s vaccination rate is 59.1%. The state rate is 62.2%. Children ages 12 to 17 in McLean County are fully vaccinated at a nearly 62% clip. Less than 23% of children ages 5 to 11 are fully vaccinated.
