Grundy County provides COVID-19 Update

MORRIS – The Grundy County Health Department provides information about vaccination efforts, cases, county and regional metrics.

Vaccination

IL Department of Public Health (IDPH) data shows that 54.78% of the Grundy population is fully vaccinated.

Walk-in COVID-19 vaccine clinics for coming months are as follows:

Residents 12 years and older

Wednesday, January 26 Friday, January 28 Each Friday in February (4th, 11th, 18th, 25th)

9 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Grundy Administration Building, 1320 Union Street, Morris

No appointment needed, but encouraged to be made through grundyhealth.com.

Residents 5 years and older (Pediatric and Adult)

Thursday, February 10

2 p.m. – 7 p.m.

The Wesley Center, 111 W North Street, Morris

No appointment needed.

All 3 vaccines will be available as supplies last. Initial doses and boosters available per current CDC recommendations. Unless obtaining a 1st dose, record of previous doses administered must be presented. To request free transportation through the Morris Hospital Patient Transportation Service, call 815-705-7250.

A minimum of 72 hours advance notice is requested for rides.

Local pharmacies continue to have pediatric and adult vaccine available, and residents may consider visiting clinics in neighboring counties as clinics are intended to be available for any Illinois resident.

Cases

To date, the total number of positive cases in Grundy is eleven-thousand nine-hundred and thirty-one (11,931), with one-hundred and nineteen (119) residents who have passed away as a result of COVID-19 complications.

In this past week, three-hundred and ninety-nine (399) new cases have been identified and six (6) new deaths of Grundy residents.

Residents may visit the Morris Hospital & Healthcare Centers webpage (morrishospital.org) to learn the latest information about Morris Hospital hospitalizations, test positivity, testing locations and visiting guidelines. The Hospital updates hospitalization and test positivity rate information each weekday by 10:00am, and includes details related to number of vaccinated and unvaccinated patients.

Testing

Testing resources, including supplies and laboratory personnel, continue to be limited. Hospital systems, pharmacies and other medical providers have various testing options as supplies are available. Please visit the specific website or call the site for specific information.

The Health Department does not offer testing. Residents should be advised that “pop-up” clinics are not operating under the supervision of the Health Department.

Isolation and Quarantine

On Monday, Dec. 27th, the CDC updated and shorted the recommended isolation and quarantine periods for the general population. IDPH and Grundy County adopted on December 30th. Isolation and quarantine guidance can be found at https://dph.illinois.gov/covid19/community-guidance/quarantine-guidance.html.

Healthcare providers and congregate settings (long term care facilities, jails, schools, etc.) may be asked to follow guidance different from that of the general population. Guidance and recommendations continue to change rapidly, and Grundy waits for IDPH to adopt changes before accepting locally.

School Metrics

Outbreak status is defined by IDPH and protocol for response is provided by IL State Board of Education (ISBE) in consultation with IDPH. Decision trees and guidance documents are available for public viewing at www.isbe.net/Pages/covid19.aspx.

School leadership may also make an instructional decision to offer remote learning for a cohort of students if the number of students who are ill or close contacts results in minimal in-person attendance. These decisions are made by looking at the specific case and evaluating available resources.

Grundy currently has some small outbreaks identified (i.e. a classroom or sports team), but no entire school or district is presently in outbreak status. School outbreak information may be found at dph.illinois.gov.

Grundy County Health Department and local school districts continue to follow IDPH and ISBE decision trees and other guidance documents, which are updated often.