Marion County has increased to the medium community level of COVID-19. The weekly tracker report from the CDC shows the county had 90 confirmed or probable cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Wednesday. That’s a 31-percent increase over the prior week. The number of new hospitalizations in Marion County was not available at the time of the report.
Marion County Health Department Administrator Melissa Mallow reported no COVID-19-related deaths in the past week. The number of congregated care facilities on outbreak status has dropped to three. One had 64 positive cases, another 54, and the third ten.
Two other area counties are also at the medium community level for COVID-19. Jefferson County had 44 new cases, a 57-percent increase, and seven new hospitalizations. Wayne County had 11 new cases and three hospitalizations.
Clinton, Washington, Fayette, and Clay Counties remain at the low level of community infection. Clinton County had 34 new cases, a 50-percent decline, and two new hospitalizations. Washington County had eight new cases a 20-percent decline. The number of new hospitalizations was not available. Fayette County had 12 new cases, a 52-percent decline, with one new hospitalization. Clay County had nine new cases and one new hospitalization.
There were a total of 18 counties at an elevated community level of COVID-19. Four counties were at the high level. All were together in Southern Illinois and include Franklin, Williamson, Jackson, and Perry. A total of 14 counties, including the three in South Central Illinois, were at the medium level.
Statewide, 10,772 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 were reported in the week ending February 26th along with 52 new deaths.
As of Thursday night, there were 921 in the hospital statewide with COVID-19. There were 113 patients in ICU and 41 on ventilators.
