La Salle County moves to medium risk for COVID-19 as of Dec. 14

La Salle County is now at medium risk for COVID-19 hospitalizations, according to the La Salle County Health Department, under standards set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A total of 41 Illinois counties are at medium risk, including Bureau, Putnam, Livingston and Marshall, and 10 are at high risk, according to the CDC website.

When the county’s level is medium, residents who are at high risk of getting very sick should wear a high-quality mask or respirator (e.g., an N95 mask) when indoors in public. If residents have household or social contact with someone at high risk for getting very sick, consider self-testing to detect infection before contact, and consider wearing a high-quality mask when indoors with them.

On Thursday, the Illinois Department of Public Health said it issued a health alert to hospitals, long-term care facilities and local health departments to increase mitigation measures, including masking and screening, to minimize an increasing spread of respiratory viruses.

“With 51 counties, or half the counties in Illinois, now at a medium or high level for COVID-19 hospitalizations, the Illinois Department of Public Health is advising health care facilities to step up mitigation efforts to minimize the spread of respiratory viruses,” according to a news release from the IDPH issued Thursday.

La Salle County’s community level is based on these combined indicators. In the past seven days through Thursday, the rate of new hospital admissions of confirmed COVID-19 cases was 12 per 100,000 residents and 4.8% of staffed inpatient beds were in use by patients with confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to the CDC website.

From Dec. 8 to 14, there were 149 new COVID-19 cases confirmed by the La Salle County Health Department. There have been 525 COVID-19-related deaths in the county since the beginning of the pandemic.