UPDATED 3:25 p.m. | McLean County health officials reported Tuesday the county’s first COVID-19 death since May, while the county’s active coronavirus caseload gradually increases.
The McLean County Health Department said the death was te 14th since the pandemic began.
Health department Administrator Jessica McKnight said a woman in her 70s died after contracting the coronavirus.
McKnight said the woman was in good health before showing COVID-19 symptoms, but recently traveled out of state. She did not provide additional information about the death.
McKnight said said out-of-state travel is a common thread among recent coronavirus cases in McLean County.
“The majority of our cases that are related to travel are coming from those spots where they are seeing increases in COVID-19,” McKnight said. “We’ve seen Florida, Texas, Arizona and Wisconsin are common travel-related cases we’ve seen recently.”
The department said the county has recorded three more COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing the count of confirmed cases to 282. Of those, 246 patients have recovered, while 22 are isolating at home. No one is hospitalized.
Ten of the county’s COVID-19 deaths are tied to the Bloomington Rehabilitation and Health Care Center, where dozens of residents and staff contracted the coronavirus.
Illinois surpassed 7,000 COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday.
McKnight said the recent business reopenings tied to Illinois’ move to Phase 4 also may play a role in the rising number of cases. She said that makes following social distancing protocols so important.
“We are going to be moving about more as we go back to ‘normal,’ and try to keep moving forward with reopening, that’s the plan for us as a state and a nation to continue moving forward,” McKnight said.
The county’s seven-day positivity rate stands at 1.3%. The rate has risen over the last week, but it’s below the county’s overall positivity rate of 1.9%
She recommends anyone who attended a party during the Fourth of July weekend to get a COVID-19 test within five to seven days.
“We are encouraging anyone who was at a large gathering or gatherings with friends of family that you are not normally associating with on a daily basis, we recommend that you are tested,” McKnight said.
The community-based testing site at the Interstate Center in Bloomington has been busier than ever in the last week. That has raised concerns about getting timely results. The site is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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