COVID Vaccine

The campaign, launched by the Illinois Academy of Family Physicians and the Illinois Department of Public Health, comes amid low vaccination rates in McLean and Peoria counties.

Data shows that around 17% of people in Illinois have experienced long COVID as of March, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Finding data more granular — say, for central Illinois, or even McLean County — is a little trickier.

Yes, there will be three viruses floating around this season (like last year). But an infectious disease specialist with OSF HealthCare says this viral season could be less burdensome than last year's.

The national COVID emergency ends Thursday. McLean County Health Department administrator Jessica McKnight says access to vaccines and COVID tests likely won't change much in the short term.

A majority of Illinois counties are at low transmission, while 25 are at medium level, including Ford, Logan, Peoria and Tazewell in central Illinois.

McLean County remains at medium COVID transmission. The McLean County Health Department (MCHD) on Friday reported two more COVID-related deaths.

New coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are on the rise, compared with the last time the county released COVID data on Nov. 18.

The McLean County Health Department (MCHD) on Friday reported the death of a man in his 70s. He's the county's 403rd COVID-related death since the start of the pandemic.

The McLean County Health Department has reported four more COVID-related deaths. That brings the county's COVID death toll since the start of the pandemic to 402.

The McLean County Health Department (MCHD) said Friday the three deaths include a woman in her 80s, a man in his 80s and a man in his 90s. That brings the county's COVID death toll to 398 since the start of the pandemic.