LEE COUNTY — The Lee County Health Department is saddened to report 1 additional death in the county after confirming COVID as the cause. Age breakdown is a male in his 80s. This brings the total number of deaths in Lee County to 55.

The health department also reported 6 cases were from congregate living facilities with 7 Dixon Correctional Center and 2 from The Meadows at Franklin Grove.

Between Jan. 15-25, the Lee County Health Department has reported a total of 98 new cases have been reported including the case listed above. Here are the ages that were announced: 5 under the age of 12, 7 in his or her teens, 18 in his or her 20s, 13 in his or her 30s, 19 in his or her 40s, 13 in his or her 50s, 7 in his or her 60s, 8 in his or her 70s, and 2 in his or her 80s. 

This brings the total number of cases to 2,877 as of Jan. 25. Of the 2,877 cases, 2,388 have recovered. They also reported as of Jan. 25, 11 residents have been hospitalized.

Vaccine

Illinois is currently in Phase 1b for COVID-19 vaccine receipt.  Persons qualifying to receive vaccine in this phase include:  

• residents 65 years and older, as well as specific groups of workers including: 

• Education Sector-Congregate Child Care, pre-K through 12th grade school staff 

• Food and Agriculture- Processing, plants, veterinary health, livestock services

• Manufacturing-Industrial production of goods for distribution to retail, wholesale or other manufacturers

• Corrections Workers & inmates

• United States Postal Workers

• Public Transit Workers-Flight crews, bus drivers, train conductors, taxi drivers, para-transit drivers, in-person support, ride sharing services

• Grocery Store Workers-Baggers, cashiers, stockers, pick-up, customer service

• Shelters/Adult Day Care-Homeless shelter, women’s shelter, adult day/drop-in programs, sheltered workshop, psycho-social rehab

If you qualify for 1b based on the above criteria, you can use this link:  http://bit.ly/39GTrMS.  Once you’ve signed up at this link, you are placed on our call list. You will be contacted when we have an available appointment for you. We understand that many residents are very anxious to receive their vaccine, but we ask for your patience. This will be a lengthy process as long as counties continue to receive limited allocations of vaccine each week. Good news:  there will likely be additional vaccine providers in our community in the near future. 

We ask that residents refrain from calling or messaging us to see if you are on the list. If you complete the form on the link, you are. We are inundated with calls and messages, and when people double check, it slows us down even more. There will be vaccine available for anyone who wants it eventually. 

We also ask if you qualify based on your profession, please check with your employer before registering, because we are currently coordinating with many employers for all their staff who want the vaccine.

We thank the community for its continued support. We will get through this together.

Stop The Spread

The Unified Command Team would like to remind our community that COVID-19 remains in our area and continues to be a real threat. Some people who have tested positive have had no symptoms or mild symptoms. Others have felt miserable or even been hospitalized.  Although there are individuals considered at a higher risk for complications due to COVID-19, some otherwise healthy people have also become very sick.  The more the virus spreads & the more cases we have locally, the risk of very ill or hospitalized individuals increases.

Please, for yourself and others, follow the state and federal recommendations.  It’s easy to remember as the 3 W’s:  Wash your hands; Watch your distance; and Wear your mask. 

Also, we’d like to mention the process of contact tracing. If your local health department 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 information can be found at this link:  https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/contact-tracing.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, shortness of breath, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, chills, sudden loss of taste and or smell and fever) OR who have a risk factor, such as contact with someone confirmed to have COVID-19, a compromised immune system or a serious chronic medical condition can get a test, even without a doctor’s order. 

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