4 counties upgraded to medium risk for COVID-19 in Illinois; La Salle County remains low

Four counties in Illinois were upgraded to medium risk for COVID-19, according to guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Illinois Department of Public Health said Friday.

La Salle County was not one of them.

DuPage, Champaign, McLean and Piatt counties are now classified under the medium community level by the CDC. That means persons who are elderly or immunocompromised (at risk of severe outcomes) are advised to wear a mask in indoor public places.

La Salle County’s community level remains low based on these combined indicators, from the CDC: case rate/total cases in the last seven days were 72.7/100,000; new hospital admissions of confirmed COVID-19 in the lasts seven days were a total of two admissions or 2.2/100,000; and the percent of staffed inpatient beds in use by patients with confirmed COVID-19 in the last seven days were 0.7%. The data is through April 21.

The La Salle County Health Department learned of two additional COVID-19 related deaths in the county. A man in his 70s and a women in her 90s died from complications related to COVID-19. These deaths occurred in August and December of 2021. There were no COVID-related deaths reported in the past week countywide.

There have been 467 COVID-19 related deaths in La Salle County since the beginning of the pandemic, four this month. In that time frame, 48 previously confirmed cases have been removed from isolation.

Additionally, there were 75 new COVID-19 cases confirmed countywide since April 14. Making up the new cases are a boy younger than 13, five girls younger than 13, four teenage boys, six teenage girls, two men in their 20s, seven women in their 20s, four men in their 30s, 10 women in their 30s, three men in their 40s, five women in their 40s, four men in their 50s, 10 women in their 50s, a man in his 60s, five women in their 60s, two men in their 70s, a woman in her 70s, two men in their 80s, two women in their 80s and a woman in her 90s.

Regardless of community level, recommendations for isolation for those testing positive and those exposed, isolation and quarantine also remain the same, including masking from days 6 to 10 when isolation/quarantine end, said the La Salle County Health Department.

The La Salle County Health Department schedules all COVID-19 tests online. Access the link at https://hipaa.jotform.com/220026540796151

The health department urges everyone 5 years and older to get vaccinated and all eligible individuals to get a booster. Individuals who need to start the COVID-19 vaccination series or a booster, call the La Salle County Health Department at 815-433-3366 to schedule an appointment. The health department has Johnson and Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer available. To search for vaccine locations available near you go to https://www.vaccines.gov/

In La Salle County, 58% of the population is fully vaccinated for COVID-19, 61.8% of the population has had at least one dose of vaccine and 34,472 booster shots have been administered, according to IDPH.