Most of South Central Illinois saw a large drop in COVID-19 cases during the week ending Thursday. None remained in the high category. Marion, Jefferson, Washington, and Wayne Counties all remain at the medium infection level.
Marion County Health Department Administrator Melissa Mallow in her weekly report said there were no new deaths to report. There are now seven congregate care facilities in outbreak status. The highest number at a facility is 58 positive cases. Another has 47 cases, a third 29 cases, a fourth facility had 23 cases, a fifth nine and the two other facilities had four positive cases each.
The CDC COVID-19 tracker recorded 41 confirmed or probable cases in Marion County during the past week. That’s a 41-percent drop from the prior week. There were four new hospitalizations. Jefferson County cases dropped to 25, a 47-percent decline, but also had six new hospitalizations. Washington County had ten new cases, a 25-percent increase, and two new hospitalizations. Wayne County is the fourth area county at the medium level. They had 18 new cases, a 51-percent decline, and two hospitalizations.
Clinton County has fallen to the low infection level. Their 44 new cases is a drop of 45 -percent from the prior week. There were three new hospitalizations. Fayette County had 21 new cases, a 46-percent drop, and one new hospitalization. Clay County had under ten new cases, a 57-percent drop, and no new hospitalizations.
Cases are also coming down statewide. Just 28 counties remain at an elevated level, with just three at the high level. That’s down from 61 counties at an elevated level last week with five in the high category.
The Illinois Department of Public Health is reporting 10,967 new COVID-19 cases statewide and 78 more deaths in the week ending on Thursday.
As of Thursday night, 1,220 individuals were in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those 151 patients were in the ICU and 57 patients were on ventilators.
