Marion County Health Department Administrator Melissa Mallow says all six of the long-term care residents who have tested positive for COVID-19 this week are asymptomatic and not outwardly suffering from COVID-19.
Mallow believes all of the residents have been vaccinated. While the vaccine manufacturers don’t promise the shots will keep you from getting COVID, it is expected to keep you from getting seriously ill and needing to be hospitalized.
Mallow says the first case was found when a resident went to Salem Township Hospital for another issue and tested positive. She says other residents were then tested as a precaution and the other positive cases were discovered. Mallow says it’s possible the residents may have been positive earlier and are still showing positive.
Under protocols established by each long-term care facility, positive cases are isolated in one area and those with close contact in another away from the general population.
Mallow says they have had some other ‘breakthrough’ cases where a person has tested positive for COVID-19 after being vaccinated.
The Marion County Health Department is reporting three new positive COVID cases for Wednesday. None are in long-term care residents are students. One is from community spread and the other two from household or close contacts. There are currently 14 active cases.
In Clinton County, three new cases have been reported on Wednesday. There are currently 13 on home isolation and three who are hospitalized.
The Jefferson County Health Department is reporting two new cases and ten positives currently in isolation.
Statewide, 2,410 new confirmed or probable cases of coronavirus were reported on Wednesday along with 30 additional deaths. Southern Illinois Deaths were reported in Jackson and Monroe Counties. The Statewide seven-day positivity rate is at 3.3-percent.
