Four COVID-related deaths, 35 new cases Saturday in Whiteside County

The Whiteside County Health Department announced four COVID-related deaths on Saturday, involving two people in their 60s and one each in their 80s and 90s.

There were also 35 new cases of COVID-19 and 10 recoveries. The new cases involved two people younger than 20, eight in their 20s, three in their 40s, six in their 50s, six in their 60s, two in their 70s and seven older than 80.

Lee, Ogle and Carroll counties did not report updated statistics Saturday.

Whiteside County has had 3,883 cases and 79 deaths. Lee County has had 1,844 cases, 1,027 recoveries and 18 deaths. Ogle County has had 2,685 cases, 2,009 recoveries and 29 deaths. Carroll County has had 1,057 cases, 944 recoveries and 24 deaths.

The North region (Boone, Carroll, DeKalb, Jo Daviess, Lee, Ogle, Stephenson, Whiteside and Winnebago counties) has seen zero consecutive days below the 12% threshold to return to Tier 2 mitigations. The region's positivity rate decreased to 15.1%. Currently, 24.4% of medical/surgical beds and 23.3% of ICU beds are available.

The region has 11 consecutive days above the 20% threshold for ICU bed availability, and 11 consecutive days above the 20% threshold for medical/surgical bed availability.

The North region has a rolling seven-day average of 266 COVID-19 patients in the hospital, a decrease of four since Thursday. Hospitalizations have decreased nine out of the past 10 days in this region.

If the North region can maintain its current hospitalization numbers and get its positivity rate below 12% for three consecutive days, it will move back into Tier 2 mitigations.

Within this region, DeKalb County's positivity rate remained flat at 10.6%, Lee County's rate increased to 17.1%, and Whiteside County's rate decreased to 17.3%.

Finally, within this region,37 out of 179 staffed ICU beds are available, a decrease of 17 from Friday.

The Illinois Department of Public Health announced 7,873 cases and 108 deaths on Saturday. The state has seen 712,936 cases and 12,137 deaths.

Sterling has had 11,076 tests and 1,421 cases. Rock Falls has had 5,506 tests and 841 cases. Dixon has had 12,890 tests and 1,327 cases. Rochelle has had 6,568 tests and 944 cases.