The Marion County Health Department reported 75 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday and Friday. None were long-term care residents, 30 are school age, and six are four years old and younger. 50 of the cases are considered community spread and 25 as a result of household or close contacts. Five of the 75 cases were fully vaccinated.
There are now 646 active cases in Maron County, including 28 in the hospital including five on ventilators.
Two Marion County School Districts have been added to the school outbreak list for this week, indicating two or more infections in a single classroom. They are Iuka Grade where less than five students and faculty have tested positive and Odin High School where less than five students are impacted. The Illinois Department of Public Health is now reporting 206 districts on outbreak status, up from 128 last Friday.
The Illinois Department of Public Health is listing five Marion County Schools with potential exposures from contact tracing. Centralia High School, Centralia Junior High School, Hawthorn Elementary School in Salem, Iuka Community Consolidated School, and Kaskaskia Education Center all have fewer than five potential exposures.
Statewide, nearly 26,000 new and probable cases of COVID-19 infection were reported in the seven day period ending on Friday. The Illiois Departmentof Public Health has also announced 285 more deaths in the past week.
The state also reported an addition 285 deaths last week.
Governor Pritzker says a little over 2,000 patients were in the hospital and Region Five in Southern Illinois has no ICU beds available.
“Although we are providing staffing and making sure that if someone does show up at a hospital, they can get cared for. That is only available to us on a limited basis for a limited period of time. If people don’t take seriously the mitigations that we need to have in place and that we bring down the infection rate,” said Pritzker.
About 20,000 doses of the vaccine are being given daily in Illinois and 61.2-percent of Illinoisans age 12 and up are now fully vaccinated.
