Two additional counties in South Central Illinois have now been bumped up to the medium level of COVID-19 spread. Wayne and Jefferson County join Marion and Washington County at the medium level while the rest of South Central Illinois and the state remain at the low level.
The latest numbers available from the CDC are for the week ending August 26th. They show seven hospitalizations in Marion and Washington Counties and six apiece in Jefferson and Wayne Counties during the past week.
Marion County Health Department Administrator Melissa Mallow says the number of congregate care facilities in outbreak status has grown from two to four. In addition to the Salem and Centralia facilities that have been on outbreak status the past few weeks, two more facilities in Centralia have been added to the list.
The number of COVID cases is no longer tracked since most case confirmations are now done from home tests which do not get reported to health officials.
