For a second straight day, Tri-County health officials on Wednesday reported no new deaths linked to COVID-19.
This marks the first time with no fatalities on back-to-back days since a four-day period from April 6-9. Between then and now, there has only been one day with no deaths reported, and the region has recorded 130 deaths in that span to push the toll to 732.
Health officials reported an addition of 31 more COVID-19 cases in the Tri-County in the past day, moving the area’s count since the start of the pandemic to 45,372. The region has recorded 209 new cases in the past week, an average of just under 30 per day.
Peoria-area hospitals report having 47 patients admitted for coronavirus infections, including 14 in intensive care units. Another 222 area residents with COVID-19 are isolating at home, the lowest number since July 13.
Peoria County's rolling seven-day COVID-19 test positivity rate dropped to 2.4%, with Tazewell at 2.7% and Woodford at 2.6%. The positivity rate for the entire Tri-County area over the weekend was 2.3%, with 1,750 tests producing just 41 positives on Saturday and Sunday.
However, COVID-19 vaccination rates in the region have slowed, with Illinois Department of Public Heath figures showing the three counties adding 869 shots administered and 448 fully vaccinated residents since Wednesday. The area has averaged 1,220 shots per day over the past week.
Illinois as a whole moved past 11 million total injections, with more than 5.1 million residents fully vaccinated — about 40.4% of the population. The state's preliminary seven-day positivity rate is 2.6%.
Illinois health officials announced 1,139 new cases statewide in the past day, along with 27 more fatalities. Since last March, the state has recorded 1,378,388 cases and 22,676 deaths.
