April 26, 2024
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Will County’s COVID-19 positivity rate appears to peak, data show

New case rate has fallen over last week since rising to an all-time high earlier this month

By Alex Ortiz
covid-19, coronavirus, plainfield

Storefronts in downtown Plainfield ask visitors to wear a face mask. (Alex Ortiz)

The spread of COVID-19 in Will County appears to have peaked and is on the downturn, according to the latest public health data.

The county’s rolling average COVID-19 test positivity rate grew to a little over 23% earlier this month, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health, as the highly contagious omicron variant caused cases to surge across many parts of the country.

As of Saturday, Will County’s test positivity rate had fallen to around 18%, still more than double where it stood just one month ago, but a possible sign of a decline in local transmission.

The number of new hospitalizations in the South Suburban Region, which includes both Will and Kankakee counties, also appears to have halted its significant rise over the last several weeks.

As of Monday, there was an average of 371 COVID-19 patients in the region’s hospitals, according to the IDPH. That is slightly down from the recent high average of 394 COVID-19 hospital patients the region reached last week.

The number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized in the region had been steadily rising since late December, according to the IDPH data.

The trend locally appears to parallel the trend across the state. The number of people in Illinois hospitals with COVID-19 has dropped 9% from last week.

Still, the number of COVID-19 vaccines administered over the past several weeks seems to have slowed, according to the IDPH.

In Will County, an average of about 2,600 shots are being administered per day. But that’s down from the daily average about a month ago when there were about 3,400 vaccinations taking place per day in the county.

State data also show that the omicron variant hasn’t seemed to encourage many Illinoisans to get vaccinated.

About 62.7% of Will County’s nearly 700,000 residents are fully vaccinated, slightly ahead of the state as a whole, according to the IDPH. About 69.8% of the county’s residents have received at least one dose.

There have also been about 193,000 booster shots administered in the county, according to the IDPH.

For information, including where to find the nearest COVID-19 vaccine clinic, visit willcountyhealth.org.