KANKAKEE — Just in time for the holidays, Kankakee County jumped into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s high community level for COVID-19 on Thursday after being in the low category the previous week.
John Bevis, administrator at Kankakee County Health Department, said the numbers are not nearing the levels of the last omicron wave last winter, but the case rate is increasing. Because this rate only includes confirmed cases of COVID reported to the state, it is likely missing cases from people testing positive on home tests or not testing at all.
“Last week’s numbers were approximately half of what we were seeing a year ago, so that is concerning,” Bevis said about daily cases.
The CDC’s community levels are based on three weekly factors: case rate per 100,000 people, new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 and the percent of staffed inpatient beds used by patients with confirmed COVID.
There were 266.7 reported cases last week as of Thursday, up 66.5% from the previous week. Kankakee County had 15.3 new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 in the county last week and 3.1% beds were used by COVID patients.
Most of the counties in Illinois are reporting medium or high COVID community levels.
The Illinois Department of Public Health is also doing wastewater testing for COVID in the state and Kankakee County, and Bevis said there has been a correlation in higher levels of COVID reported from wastewater samples recently.
“We’re seeing numbers that we’ve not seen since last July and then going into last spring,” Bevis said during Tuesday’s Kankakee County Board Executive Committee meeting. “The positive news is we’ve only had one death now reported in the last 30 days. I think we’ve only had about three in the last almost two-and-a-half to three months.
“So while the virus is still there, and while sickness is still out there and increasing again because of the colder weather and the crowds are together, the schools are all in session. Now we’re going to have people coming home from vacations or school breaks or traveling from their schools to other states.
“They’re going to be bringing that virus to you. And there’s other viruses out there including the flu, RSV, strep throat, bronchitis, upper respiratory diseases that are out there and prevalent that we’ve not been experiencing the last couple of years because we were more diligent in wearing our masks and hyper-focused on the COVID.
“So now as we peel back the onion layers, so to speak, we are going to start to see and are seeing and experiencing more illnesses, and they’re going to be harder on all of us because we’ve had two years of not being sick with them and our bodies have not adapted to those. So with that we’re just continuing to put the messaging out there about get vaccinated, wear a mask to help protect yourselves, wash your hands, stay home if you’re sick, those types of things. We’ll continue to do that to help protect the public’s health.”
Bevis recommends individuals be aware of COVID levels in areas where they are traveling and keep up to date on vaccinations for both influenza and COVID.
“It’s not too late to get vaccinated for COVID or get a booster for COVID,” Bevis said.
The health department is continuing to host walk-in vaccination clinics from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays for COVID-19 or flu vaccinations in all age groups.
People in communities experiencing a high level of COVID-19 are recommended to wear a high-quality mask or respirator by the CDC.
“It’s highly recommended that individuals wear a mask if they’re not feeling good and they’re going to go out in public,” Bevis said.
The CDC advises individuals who are at high risk for getting very sick to consider avoiding non-essential indoor activities in public.
Daily Journal reporter Chris Breach contributed to this report.
Meredith Melland earned a BA in journalism from DePaul University, where she worked as a web developer and editor for 14 East, DePaul's online student magazine. She has interned for Chicago magazine and WGN. Her email is mmelland@daily-journal.com.
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