The Peoria area is struggling with its latest wave of COVID-19.
Tri-County health officials on Monday report 795 new coronavirus infections since Thursday, along with five more deaths tied to the pandemic.
Hospitalizations in the region climbed to 126, and the number of patients in intensive care units more than doubled over the past four days to 34. Another 1,915 infected individuals are isolating at home, an increase of about 800 over the past week.
Both Peoria and Tazewell counties are considered in the Illinois Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 warning area, with the most recent figures showing Peoria County’s positivity rate at 9.7%.
According to the New York Times, the Peoria metro area recorded just over 50 new cases daily per 100,000 residents over the past two weeks. That represents the ninth worst outbreak area in the nation, and the worst outside of Michigan and New York City.
The five latest victims included two women in their 40s -- one from Peoria County and one from Tazewell County; the others were two Peoria County men in their 60s and one in his 70s. The region’s death toll since the start of the pandemic now stands at 602, while the case count is up to 38,293.
The Tri-County’s negative pandemic trends counter the region’s performance with COVID-19 vaccinations. Updated IDPH figures have Peoria, Tazewell and Woodford counties collectively adding 3,377 injections and 1,443 fully vaccinated residents over the weekend.
The area has now totaled 186,307 shots, with 75,937 fully dosed residents – or 21.6% of the population. Peoria County alone is up to 98,144 doses and 40,177 fully vaccinated individuals (22.2%).
Illinois as a whole is up to 6.3 million total injections and nearly 2.4 million people completely dosed (18.7%).
State health officials report 2,102 new infections and 11 more fatalities in the past day. Illinois has logged 1,258,736 illnesses and 21,384 fatalities. Hospitals across the state had 1,581 coronavirus patients as of Sunday night, while the seven-day positivity rate rose to 4.5%.
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