McLean County health officials added 106 new confirmed or probable COVID-19 cases, as the county’s testing positivity rate rose half a percentage point to 5.4%.
The positivity rate hadn’t broken 5% since late January, and Wednesday’s daily case count is the highest in the last nine weeks.
The number of McLean County residents hospitalized with COVID-19 held at 30. However, hospital bed capacity tightened. Just 6% of all Bloomington-Normal hospital beds are open — less than half the capacity reported on Tuesday. Intensive care bed use remains at 88%.
There are 440 county residents isolating at home, bringing the active caseload to 470. An additional 40 people are now considered recovered.
The new cases were found in a batch of 2,300 test results returned overnight. To date, 15,545 people in McLean County have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The death toll stands at 207.
About 69,900 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in McLean County, according to the county health department. That’s up from 69,534 yesterday.
Health officials say now is not the time to ease up on COVID precautions.
“With warmer weather, and a holiday weekend approaching, we are stressing the continuation of smart and cautious interactions with people who are not immediate members of our household,” said McLean County Health Department spokesperson Marianne Manko. “Even if you are fully vaccinated, we still do not have enough data to tell us how effective the vaccines are against spreading the disease.”
Manko warned an uptick in cases could be coming, with spring break around the corner, adding exposure continues to occur with events or activities that take place indoors. She said the risk increases along with attendance size.
Manko said the health department is concerned about more transmission among students involved in sports. MCHD cannot confirm if more transmission is strictly due to athletic activities, she said, but the department has seen an increase in the number of student-athletes quarantined or isolated compared with previous months.
Coronavirus In McLean County
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