McLean County has reported two additional COVID-related deaths to bring its death toll to 175 since the pandemic began a year ago.
The McLean County Health Department (MCHD) said the deaths included a man in his 60s and a woman in her 80s. Neither were associated with a long-term care facility. They are the first COVID-related deaths the county has reported in the last week.
McLean County reported 16 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, to bring the county’s total of probable and confirmed cased since the start of the pandemic to 14,713. MCHD said 155 people are isolating at home and 14,4360 people have completed their time in quarantine and are considered recovered.
Twenty-three McLean County residents are hospitalized with COVID-19, according to the department. That’s down one from Tuesday. Ninety percent of Bloomington-Normal hospital beds are in use, while 69% of intensive care beds are occupied. Those hospitals have 12 COVID patients under their care now.
The county’s seven-day testing positivity rate dipped to 2.2%, while the cumulative positivity rate since the start of the pandemic held at 5.8%, based on more than 254,000 tests conducted since the start of the pandemic.
National Guard
Gov. JB Pritzker has announced Illinois National Guard troops will help MCHD staff administer COVID-19 vaccines at its clinic at Grossinger Motors Arena in downtown Bloomington.
“This partnership will not only allow MCHD to vaccinated residents at a faster rate, it will also assist in increasing access to residents all across McLean County as vaccine shipments increase,” the health department said in a news release.
According to the governor’s office, the clinic at the arena has capacity to put up to 4,600 vaccine doses in arms. The vaccine supply has fallen short of that.
MCHD reported an additional shipment has enabled the department to schedule an additional first-dose vaccination clinic on Saturday at the arena.
According to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), 41,735 COVID vaccines have been administered in the county and more than 15,000 people among the 1A and 1B populations have received both vaccine doses.
The county’s rate of fully vaccinated (8.8%) trails the state average of 9.4%.
Currently, McLean County is only vaccinating people 65 and older, health care workers and other essential employees. The county has said it doesn’t have enough doses yet to being vaccinating people under age 65 with underlying health conditions.
Coronavirus In McLean County
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