McLean County reported four additional COVID-19 cases on Monday, while five others have recovered from the coronavirus.
The McLean County Health Department’s website reports a total of 48 COVID-19 cases. The number shows a slight slowdown in the number of new cases.
The county reported no new cases on Sunday after a three-day surge in which the county saw 24 additional cases, more than doubling the previous total.
The county reports one of the previous COVID-19 patients is out of the hospital, bringing that total to five, while 12 have recovered and 28 remain in isolation. Two COVID-19 patients died.
The state of Illinois announced 1,006 new cases and 33 deaths on Monday. That brings its current totals to 12,259 cases and 307 deaths.
Coronavirus in McLean County
Infogram
Expanded Testing
Drive-up testing at the McLean County Fairgrounds remains underutilized despite the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) relaxing testing guidelines to include anyone who is experiencing symptoms and for health care workers and first responders without symptoms.
Ninety-three tests were conducted Sunday, well below the daily capacity of 250, though it marked an increase over the 80 tests done on Friday and 44 on Saturday.
The McLean County Health Department said Monday it has resolved issues which led to confusion over the expanded testing. HHS told WGLT on Saturday it had relaxed testing guidelines, a report the county initially denied until it received confirmation late Saturday afternoon.
McLean County spokesperson Dion McNeal said the department has streamlined its communications with state and federal health agencies.
“It looks like the way we were utilizing wasn’t the most effective,” McNeal said. “I know now after our weekend situation we were better able to address how to better communicate with the press as well as the public as well as our state partners and HHS."
Cases By Zip Code
The health department has started providing COVID-19 cases by ZIP code. The map shows 27 cases are from Bloomington ZIP codes, while 14 are in Normal.
Health officials caution the coronavirus is still likely present even in areas where no COVID-19 cases have been confirmed.
McLean County's confirmed COVID-19 cases are now available to view by zip code:https://t.co/W7daMxGhXX
— McLeanCountyHealth (@McLeanHealth) April 6, 2020
If there is not a confirmed case in your zip code, that does not mean there is no COVID-19. We must assume that it is everywhere. Continue to practice all preventive measures.
False Negatives
A McLean County Health Department official said she has confidence in the effectiveness of the COVID-19 tests, while some in the medical community say the test could be missing up to 30% of positives.
Communicable disease supervisor Melissa Graven said she has heard those concerns too.
“I have a strong confidence in the tests, but one of the things we say in the medical community is you treat the patient and not their lab (results),” Graven said. “I think it’s something we ought to take into consideration when you are testing somebody.”
Graven said if a patient is showing COVID-19 symptoms, their medical provider should treat them as though they have it and have them quarantine.
“A test positive or negative isn’t going to treat you any different, so if you have symptoms consistent with COVID-19 just assume that you have it and isolate,” Graven said.
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