LEE COUNTY — The Lee County Health Depart-ment announced on Aug. 17, that for the week of Aug. 2-8, Lee County’s positivity rate and new case rate have increased again for the week. For the week July 26 – Aug. 1, Lee County was higher than the state’s target for new cases per 100,000. The target is 50; and Lee County had 58 positive cases for the week of July 26-Aug. 1.

Lee County’s positivity rate has also increased. During that same week, July 26 – Aug. 1, Lee County’s positivity rate was 6.3 percent. The state target is 8 percent or less.

Since Aug. 11, the Lee County Health Department has reported 25 new cases: two in his or her teens, 9 in his or her 20s, 2 in his or her 30s, 3 in his or her 40s, 4 in his or her 50s, 1 in his or her 60s, 2 in his or her 70s, and 2 in his or her 80s. This brings the total cases to 197 as of Aug. 17.

The Lee County Health Department reports that 152 of the 197 positive cases have recovered thus far.

Please continue, or if you haven’t been-start, to follow the recommendations. It’s easy to remember as the 3 W’s: Wash your hands; Watch your distance; and Wear your mask. Contact Tracing
If your local health de-partment tries to contact you, please answer or return their call. Some people may feel distrustful or afraid of the term “contact tracing.” This is actually a strategy used for many years in public health to reduce the spread of infectious disease. Contact tracing is a critical piece of our mitigation efforts against COVID-19. More informa-tion can be found at this link: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/dai-ly-life-coping/contact-trac-ing.html 

What to do if you think you have or have been exposed to COVID-19

During the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals with symptoms SHOULD NOT GO to health care facilities such as hospitals, clinics, and urgent care centers without CALLING FIRST. Instead, they can seek care by using one of the following options:

Testing:

Anyone with COVID-19 like symptoms (cough, short-ness of breath, muscle pain, chills, sudden loss of taste and or smell and fever) OR who have a risk factor, such as contact with someone con-firmed to have COVID-19, a compromised immune system or a serious chronic medical condition can get a test, even without a doctor’s order. And now the following people can be tested with or without symptoms.  

• Work in health care facility
• Work in correctional facilities, such as jails or prisons
• Serve as first responders, such as paramedics, emergency medical technicians, law enforcement officers, or firefighters
• Support critical infrastructure , such as workers in grocery stores, pharmacies, restaurants, gas stations, public utilities, factories, childcare and sanitation.

Call the KSB Hotline Monday-Friday, 9-5 at 285-7777 to determine eligibility for testing.

Residents can go to the following websites for additional information:

Go to KSB, LCHD, IDPH, or CDC websites.  Lee County Health Department provides regular updates on its Facebook page.

• https://www.ksbhospital.com/coronavirus-outbreak-covid-19/
• http://www.lchd.com
• http://dph.illinois.gov/topics-services/diseases-and-conditions/diseases-a-z-list/coronavirus
• https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
• For businesses: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/guidance-business-response.html
• Facebook: Lee County IL Health Department