Officials warn of higher COVID-19 infection rate in Will County

Health officials warned residents to continue to take the COVID-19 pandemic seriously as infection rates in Will County begin to rise.

The Will County Health Department reported 57 new COVID-19 cases Friday. The new caseload was well under Thursday's total of 122 new cases, which was the most the county had reported since late May.

The health department has reported a total of 8,474 COVID-19 cases and 338 deaths from the disease as of Friday.

No new COVID-19 deaths were reported Friday in Will County.

County health officials this week warned the public that the pandemic is “far from over” and pleaded with residents to continue to take precautions and to not attend events with large crowds of people.

They pointed to Illinois Department of Public Health data that showed Region 7, which includes Will and Kankakee counties, has seen a seven-day run of positivity rate increases as of July 30.

“We all need to do our part and heed to the precautions if we want to see better results,” Health Department Executive Director Sue Olenek said in a news release. “When socializing and congregating started to creep back up around July 4, people began to relax and forget about observing social distancing and being fully masked while in public. If we do not want to go back to the ‘stay at home’ order, we need to follow these precautions seriously at all times.”

The Will County Health Department provides information and resources on COVID-19 on its website, willcountyhealth.org.