Children too young to receive the COVID-19 vaccine make up the largest share of new coronavirus cases in McLean County. Data from the McLean County Health Department (MCHD) released Wednesday show nearly 25% of new cases in the last week involve children 11 and under.
Younger children may become eligible for the COVID vaccine within a month.
MCHD data show 394 new coronavirus cases from Sept. 15-21, including 97 in children under age 12. Young adults in their 20s and 30s had the next highest caseloads (66 and 45, respectively).
COVID deaths
McLean County also announced two more COVID-related deaths: a woman in her 50s and a man in his 60s. Neither was associated with long-term care.
There have been 10 COVID-related deaths in the county this month, and 255 since the start of the pandemic.
Thirty McLean County residents are hospitalized with COVID-19. That’s unchanged from Tuesday, while Bloomington-Normal hospitals report they have 28 COVID patients receiving care. Carle BroMenn Medical Center and OSF St. Joseph Medical Center indicate 92% of their hospital beds are in use and 88% of intensive care beds are full.
Children’s Hospital of Illinois in Peoria reported Wednesday it has one patient receiving treatment for COVID-19. The facility has had 133 COVID-related hospitalizations, said OSF HealthCare media relations supervisor Shelli Dankoff.
Both OSF and Carle Health have provided data that more than 80% of their COVID-19 patients are not vaccinated.
New cases
MCHD reported 65 daily coronavirus cases on Wednesday from a batch of about 1,600 tests returned overnight.
The county reported 480 people are isolating at home, 53 people were released from quarantine overnight and 20,979 people are considered recovered from COVID-19 since the pandemic started.
The county’s seven-day testing positivity rate rose a half point to 3.6%; that’s higher than the state average of 3.4%.
Testing record
Coronavirus caseloads have risen in McLean County, alongside an increase in testing.
Data from the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) show 15,075 coronavirus tests were conducted in the county from Sept. 14-20 — a 14% increase over the previous record set earlier this month.
COVID vaccines
According to the IDPH, more than 184,500 COVID vaccines have been administered in McLean County. The county’s rate of fully vaccinated people is 53.6%, which trails the state rate of 54.7%.
According to MCHD, the vaccination rate in the 12-to-17 age group is 55.4%. Adults ages 18 to 64 are fully vaccinated at a 57.8% rate and those 65 and older have a vaccination rate of 89.7%.
