Marion and Wayne Counties are now both listed as ‘high’ for COVID-19 community spread. The rest of South-Central Illinois is now in the medium category. 28 of the 102 counties in Illinois have now moved to the high category and 53 to the medium category.
In light of the recent upticks, the Illinois Department of Public Health is urging residents to exercise caution and common sense during gatherings and recommends wearing masks indoors in public, especially if you are in a high-risk group.
The latest COVID tracker numbers from the CDC for last week show 100 new or probable causes of COVID-19 being reported in Marion County. That’s a four percent decline in new cases from the prior week. Three new hospitalizations are reported in Marion County.
Health Department Administrator Melissa Mallow reports no new deaths from COVID-19-related causes for another week. There are five Marion County congregate care facilities in outbreak status. One facility reported 16 cases, another nine, a third facility six, the fourth had four positive cases and the fifth had two positive cases. A facility is considered to be on outbreak status if it has two or more related cases.
In Wayne County, 46 new cases were reported last week a ten percent increase. There were three new hospitalizations.
Those counties at medium status are Clinton County with 81 new cases, a 27-percent increase in the past week, and three new hospitalizations. In Jefferson County, 75 new cases are being reported, a 21-percent increase, with seven hospitalizations. Washington County had 16 new cases, a 53-percent decline, and one hospitalization. Fayette County had 63 new cases, a 125-percent increase, with one new hospitalization. Clay County reported 38 new cases, a 41 percent increase, and one new hospitalization.
Statewide, there were 28,216 new cases reported during the past week along with 74 deaths. As of Thursday night, 1,154 were hospitalized statewide, including 122 in the ICU and 44 on ventilators.
