Vermilion County has seen a slight increase in COVID cases over the past few days. And Vermilion County Health Administrator Douglas Toole says the county has not seen a major outbreak for awhile, but adds it is better to be proactive than reactive. Toole adds BA2 is the more predominant lineage of the Omicron variant at this time, accounting for almost 70-percent of cases in the Midwest – and it is more contagious. Toole says the good news is that there continues to be fewer hospitalizations from COVID in our area, especially in the Intensive Care Unit.
Toole also continues to remind the public that vaccinations save lives. There are several opportunities to receive your COVID-19 vaccine or booster. They include:
- Carle – where you can call for an appointment or go online for vaccine or booster information.
- OSF has vaccines for children 5 and up. You can go to osfmychart.org to make an appointment.
- Local and area pharmacies also offer vaccinations for protection against COVID. You can make an appointment online, and check to see whether they have the vaccine you need: 1st Dose, 2nd Dose, 3rd Dose or Booster.
COVID testing clinics are still happening at the Vermilion County Health Department on both Tuesdays and Wednesdays – from 10:00 a.m. until 6 p.m. both days. Those interested can create accounts through a link on the Health Department’s website, www.vchd.org. The team tested about 60 people for COVID at the Vermilion County Health Department over the past week.
There have been 294 deaths in Vermilion County linked to COVID since the pandemic began. There were 33 new COVID cases diagnosed in the county over the past week, taking the total number of cases in Vermilion County to 27,891 since March of 2020.
The County Health Department will also be hosting three NARCAN training sessions for the public this month. Toole says up to twenty people can attend each class. As of Friday the classes were about half full.
