La Salle County woman in her 100s dies from COVID-19 complications

A La Salle County woman in her 100s has died from complications related to COVID-19, the La Salle County Health Department said Friday.

It was unclear when the woman died. There have been seven coronavirus-related deaths reported in the past three months.

Jenny Barrie, a La Salle County Health Department health educator, said in November deaths are not always reported during the month they occur. There can be a lag in reporting within the state system, as the deaths were determined to be COVID-19-related after further review from the Illinois Department of Public Health.

La Salle County is back to low risk for COVID-19 hospitalizations, according to the county’s health department, under standards set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

La Salle County’s community level is based on these combined indicators. In the past seven days through Thursday, there have been 13 new hospital admissions of confirmed COVID-19, the rate of new hospital admissions of confirmed COVID-19 cases was 7.1 per 100,000 residents, the percent change in hospital admissions from the prior week more than doubled and 2.5% of staffed inpatient beds were in use by patients with confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to the CDC website.

From Dec. 29 to Jan.4, there were 87 new COVID-19 cases confirmed by the La Salle County Health Department. The La Salle County Health Department has no way of monitoring at-home test results, Barrie said. There have been 527 COVID-19-related deaths in the county since the beginning of the pandemic.