3 La Salle County residents die from COVID-19 complications

Three La Salle County residents died from complications related to COVID-19 since Feb. 25.

A man in his 70s, a woman in her 80s and a man in his 90s accounted for the deaths.

There were 23 COVID-related deaths in February, making it the seventh worst month since the beginning of the pandemic. There have been two deaths recorded this month, and nine in all of March of last year, according to the La Salle County Health Department.

In total, 453 people have died from complications related to COVID-19 since the start of the virus.

There were 126 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus, the La Salle County Health Department said. Making up the new cases are 18 boys younger than 13, nine girls younger than 13, eight teenage boys, five teenage girls, four men in their 20s, 10 women in their 20s, nine men in their 30s, seven women in their 30s, five men in their 40s, eight women in their 40s, seven men in their 50s, 10 women in their 50s, three men in their 60s, seven women in their 60s, eight men in their 70s, three women in their 70s, a man in his 80s, two women in their 80s and two women in their 90s.

There were 735 people with COVID-19 removed from quarantine in the past seven days, according to the health department.

The CDC released a new framework Feb. 25 to monitor the level of COVID-19 in communities. This new framework focuses recommendations on minimizing severe disease, limiting strain on the healthcare system, and enabling those at highest risk to protect themselves against infection and severe disease.

The new community levels combine hospital capacity and COVID-19 hospital admissions with cases to identify when a community is facing a low, medium, or high level of risk from COVID-19. The CDC will look to adjust recommendations based on the level of COVID-19 in a community and the strain on healthcare. 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.

La Salle County’s community level is low based on these combined indicators.

• Case rate/total cases (last seven days): 113.19/100,000
• New hospital admissions of confirmed COVID-19 (last 7 days): Total five or 4.9/100,000
• Percent of staff inpatient beds in use by patients with confirmed COVID-19 (last seven days): 1.5

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

La Salle County 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 agency has Johnson and Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer available. To search for vaccine locations available near you visit https://www.vaccines.gov/

There were 62,851 residents fully vaccinated in La Salle County, which is 57.43% of the county’s population; 67,436 residents with at least one dose of vaccine, which is 61.62% of the county’s population; and 33,009 boosters have been administered, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.