Test positivity stabilizes in county, region
Illinois student Shaina Lohman sanitizes her hands after completing a University COVID-19 test at State Farm Center on Oct. 9. 81 people in Champaign County have now died of COVID-19.
February 1, 2021
A woman in her 80s became the 109th resident of Champaign County to die from COVID-19 on Saturday.
She was the 19th county resident to die from the virus in January. In the last three months alone, the virus has claimed the lives of 81 people countywide.
Another 34 positive COVID-19 cases were confirmed by the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District on Sunday after 10,228 more tests, though the number of cases considered active dropped by 55, to 615.
As was the case on Saturday, 27 county residents are hospitalized for the virus. Fifty five COVID-19 patients are receiving medical attention at Urbana’s Carle Foundation Hospital, including 11 in intensive care.
Across all Carle system hospitals, there are 65 COVID-19 patients with 14 of them in the ICU.
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Meanwhile, 878 close contacts are currently ordered to quarantine by the public health district. Another 76 people were ordered to quarantine on Sunday after potential exposure to a COVID-19 positive person.
In all, 16,369 residents have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began, and 15,645 are considered recovered. The county has conducted 1,467,219 tests for the virus, while 21,412 people have been ordered to quarantine after exposure to a COVID-19 positive person.
About 11.8% of residents who’ve quarantined later tested positive for the virus.
Regional metrics
The seven-day average test positivity in Champaign County and surrounding Region 6 has stayed flat for the last few days. About 5% of testers in the area have tested positive for the virus recently.
The region has stayed under the 8% positivity threshold for 17 consecutive days, while ICU bed capacity has hovered around 30%, well above the 20% threshold.
If test positivity or ICU capacity breach those metrics, Region 6 would be subject to more mitigations.
Like five of Illinois’ other 10 regions, Region 6 is under Phase 4 of the Restore Illinois plan, the penultimate stage of mitigations. Phase 5 is when widespread vaccinations allow for a return to normal activities.
@esimmsnews
