COVID-19 crisis: Second surge at prison drives up Perry County numbers
One hundred and forty-four new cases of COVID-19 have been identified in Perry County between Christmas Day and Monday morning, 97 of them inside a correctional facility, according to the Perry County Health Department.
Last week, 240 cases of COVID-19 were reported at the correctional facility. With 97 more, the total there as of Monday was 337.
The additional laboratory confirmed positive cases bring the total positive cases in Perry County to 2,125 since the pandemic began. There are currently 474 active cases; there have been 47 deaths and 1,604 patients have recovered and been released from isolation.
Among the 47 non-prison new cases of COVID-19 are:
three girls under 6 years of age
two boys under 8 years of age
three women and four men in their 20s
five women and eight men in their 30s
two women and four men in their 40s
three women and five men in their 50s
three women and two men in their 60s
three women in their 70s
Meanwhile, Illinois' coronavirus death toll surpassed 16,000 on Monday, even as statewide, the number of new COVID-19 cases and people hospitalized in Illinois continues to decline.
An additional 105 deaths were reported Monday by the Illinois Department of Public Health, bringing the total number of COVID-19 deaths in Illinois to 16,074 among 942,362 cases and more than 13 million test results reported.
The IDPH on Monday reported 4,453 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in Illinois.
Statewide, the rolling seven-day average case positivity rate from Dec. 21 to Dec. 27 was 7.2 percent. That is three-tenths of a percentage point lower than the seven-day average case positivity rate reported on Dec. 23, the last day IDPH released COVID data before the holiday weekend. That makes one week of rates below 8 percent.
At the end of Sunday, there were 4,243 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Illinois, a decrease of 350 from Dec. 23.
There were 884 intensive care beds in use by COVID-19 patients as of Sunday night, a decrease of 69 from Dec. 23. That left 840, or just over 25 percent, of ICU beds available statewide.
COVID-19 patients occupied 515 ventilators, a decrease of 21 from the Wednesday prior to the holiday weekend. That left 4,205 ventilators, or 73.7 percent of all ventilators, available for use across the state.
More than 112,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Illinois since the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were approved for emergency use earlier this month. On Sunday, President Trump signed a bill granting $900 billion in COVID-19 aid, which includes a direct payment up to $600 dollars to some Americans. The bill also includes funds for vaccine distribution and boosts in weekly unemployment benefits.
<i> Raymon Troncoso of Capitol News Illinois contributed to this report.</i>