Peoria County has been removed from the Illinois Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 risk warning list, as the Tri-County’s pandemic figures continue to improve.
Public health officials on Friday reported 21 new cases and four more deaths in the region — one day after a 19-case increase marked the fewest in a single day since 18 on July 21.
While Peoria County still exceeded the IDPH target of less than 50 new cases per 100,000 residents during the week ending May 22 — with 69 — a decreasing number of fatalities allowed the warning to be removed.
Peoria was the only county in the state with an elevated risk warning as of May 15; five other counties in northern Illinois have since been added, including suburban Cook County.
The new Tri-County cases included 13 in Peoria County and eight in Tazewell County, pushing the area’s total since the start of the pandemic to 45,412. The region has added 168 cases in the past week — an average of 24 per day — and 1,730 since the end of April, with 820 coming in the first seven days and each subsequent week producing fewer infections.
The latest COVID victims include two Peoria County men, one in his 60s and one in his 80s. The others were both Woodford County residents: a man in his 60s and a woman in her 90s. The Tri-County’s death toll since the start last March is up to 739.
Peoria-area hospitals are treating 49 patients with coronavirus infections, including 13 in intensive care units. Another 182 residents with COVID-19 are isolating at home.
The IDPH announced 982 new cases and 21 more fatalities statewide since Thursday. Illinois has totaled 1,380,251 cases and 22,739 deaths since last March.
Peoria, Tazewell, and Woodford counties tallied 1,097 shots of COVID-19 vaccine administered in the past day, a little more than the seven-day average of 1,040. The region is up to 39.1% of residents fully vaccinated. Illinois as a whole is up to 40.9% of all residents being fully vaccinated, including more than 49% of adults.
