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WGLT's reporting on the coronavirus pandemic, which began in McLean County in March 2020.

McLean Co. Tops Last Week's Record For COVID Deaths

face masks hang from IV pole
Jenny Kane
/
AP
McLean County has reported 16 COVID-related deaths this week, breaking the record set last week.

UPDATED 7:45 P.M. | McLean County has set a new record for weekly COVID-related deaths, while health officials report progress in some regional metrics and the arrival of a COVID vaccine that for some health care workers. 

McLean County COVID-19 data
Credit McLean County Health Department
The McLean County Health Department announced 117 coronavirus cases and two deaths on Friday.

The McLean County Health Department (MCHD) announced two more COVID-19 deaths on Friday, a woman in her 60s and a man in his 70s. Both were associated with long-term care facilities. That brings the week's death toll to 16, breaking the previous record of 11 deaths set last week.

Thirty-five of the county’s 85 COVID-related deaths have come in December.

Data from the Illinois Department of Public Health indicated 71 new coronavirus cases and nine deaths tied to long-term care facilities in the last week. Five of the deaths were at the McLean County Nursing Home, according to IDPH. The county-run facility in Normal has had 84 COVID positive cases, including 15 this week.

McLean County Health Department Administrator Jessica McKnight said it's hard to keep the coronavirus out of nursing homes when it's widespread in the community. 

"When we see high rates of positivity in the community, then it's likely sadly that we will see the illness brought into those living settings," McKnight said. "Sadly, those in congregant settings and nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities, the nature of those residents, they are older populations with underlying medical conditions," McKnight said.

MCHD said hospital capacity dropped over the last 24 hours to 15% of all beds, while 12% of intensive care beds remain available.  

The number of McLean County residents hospitalized because of COVID held steady at 24. 

The department reported 117 new confirmed coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours, while 125 coronavirus patients have recovered in that time. There are currently 1,117 patients isolating at home, while 9,313 patients have recovered. 

The county’s seven-day testing positive rate dipped slightly to 9.5%, while the cumulative positivity rate held at 6.4%, based on more than 164,200 tests conducted since the start of the pandemic.

Vaccine arrives

McLean County received its first shipment of COVID vaccines on Friday,earlier than expected. 

McKnight said earlier Friday the county expected to receive its first shipment of the COVID vaccine for frontline health care workers next week.

Counties with the highest rates of COVID deaths were first in line to the get the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Thousands of health care workers were inoculated this week.

The state plans to start distributing vaccines to residents and staff of long-term care facilities the week of Dec. 28 through a federal program with CVS and Walgreens.

Tier transition

MCHD indicated that regional health metrics that would enable a return to Tier 2 mitigations show some promise.

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) The rolling coronavirus testing positivity rate is 9.7% for the 20-county area that makes up Region 2. It has been below 12% for five consecutive days. The minimum for a transition to Tier 2 is three consecutive days.

The region also must meet benchmarks where it’s currently falling short. The region must have greater than 20% of hospital and ICU beds available for three consecutive days. The region currently has 19.7% of ICU beds open and 24.6% of medical and surgical beds available.

The region also has had five days of hospitalization decreases. The region must see a declining average in seven of the last 10 days.

McKnight said even if mitigations are relaxed, she urges the public to follow the safety guidelines as Christmas and New Year’s approach and many families will be tempted to hold larger get-togethers.

“It is a difficult concept because we are seeing our daily cases going down, but deaths increase and that’s why the mitigations are based on science and there are helping us to prevent further hospitalizations and deaths,” McKnight said.

All 11 regions of the state are currently in Tier 3. The mitigations ban indoor dining at bars and restaurants, limits home gatherings to household members and bans gatherings at banquet halls, meeting rooms and private parties.

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