Tri-County public health officials on Friday reported 20 patients admitted to Peoria-area hospitals for COVID-19, the lowest number in almost a full year as Illinois enters Phase 5 of Gov. JB Pritzker’s Restore Illinois plan.
The last time the Tri-County had fewer than 20 patients hospitalized with coronavirus infections was July 8 with 11; the count grew to 20 the following day, and has only dropped as low as 21 twice since then (in March).
The region has recorded 14 deaths linked to COVID-19 over the past week, up from five over the previous seven days. Nine of this week’s fatalities are from Peoria County, with Tazewell County logging two and Woodford County adding three.
The region's death toll since the start of the pandemic stands at 756 while the case count is up to 45,549, a gain of 49 since last Friday and just four in the past day.
With 155 infected residents isolating at home, the region has 175 active COVID-19 cases — 47 more than a week ago, but down 46 from Monday.
Illinois as a whole has recorded 1,387,029 cases of COVID-19 and 23,035 fatalities since last March. Current hospitalizations across the state are down to 707, and the preliminary seven-day positivity rate is at 1.3%.
Meanwhile, the Tri-County region saw its COVID-19 vaccination rate increase after a steady decline over the past month.
Illinois Department of Public Health figures show Peoria, Tazewell, and Woodford counties combining for more than 7,316 new doses administered in the past seven days, up from just 4,742 new doses over the previous week.
Peoria County now has 75,001 residents who are fully vaccinated, which represents 41.5% of the population. The entire region is up to 41.2% of the population being fully dosed; 295,395 total shots have been administered.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 52% of Illinois adults are now fully vaccinated and 69% have received at least one shot. The state has logged 11.8 million total doses administered.
