As Illinois residents celebrate the return of outside drinking and dining at restaurants and bars Friday, public health officials are advising be cautious. Melissa Rome, Emergency Planning and Preparedness Coordinator for the Vermilion County Health Department, says there is reason to celebrate besides businesses re-opening. The positivity rate for COVID-19 in Vermilion County is low…
{”We are at a 2.7 percent rate which is really good. We’re probably the lowest in the state,” said Rome, ”and we keep going down and that’s really good. And we’re testing more people and luckily fewer people are testing positive. We’re still getting positive results. Right now we’re at 40 for Vermilion County, and we’ll probably continue to still see an increase just because we have increased testing.”}
Rome was the guest speaker at a Vermilion Advantage Round Table Luncheon Thursday where she addressed about forty area leaders via Zoom.
She is urging citizens to continue to take precautions as the state enters Phase 3 of the recovery from the pandemic….
{”We’re going into this next step, but again it’s just taking those precautions – still wearing masks, still keeping that six feet distance. Still understanding – you know – if you’re going to get together with family or friends, and just reminding people like – hey, but if you’re feeling sick – maybe another time because, again, we don’t want to have a huge outbreak,” said Rome.
Vermilion County has had 40 confirmed cases of COVID-19 coronavirus diagnosed since the Vermilion County Health Department started tracking the numbers earlier this year. Twenty-five of those people have been released from isolation and 14 were on home isolation (as of Thursday). No one from Vermilion County was hospitalized as of Thursday from the virus. One death was announced earlier in Vermilion County.
