LEE COUNTY — Today, KSB Hospital celebrated the release of a COVID-19 patient after a 16-day hospital stay. This is the third person to be successfully treated and released by KSB Hospital. KSB Hospital and the Lee County Unified Leadership Team would like to assure people that it is safe to go the hospital and receive care. If a medical situation required an emergency room visit 6 weeks ago, it still requires an emergency room visit today. KSB Emergency Room visits are down significantly for critical issues and there is concern that people are not seeking medical attention that could result in serious medical conditions. 

KSB Hospital has joined forces with Rochelle Community Hospital to assist with on-site COVID-19 testing at Rochelle Foods in Rochelle. There are over 800 employees at this facility. 36 of these employees live in Lee County. So far, 30 employees at this facility have tested positive for COVID-19.  If you run a company in Lee County and are in doubt about how to handle a COVID-19 exposure, please contact the Lee County Health Department at 815/284-3371 immediately.  Every hour counts in containing the spread of the virus. 

There is one more positive case of COVID-19 in Lee County, bringing the total to 18. The newest case is a person in his or her 30’s.The Lee County Health Department reports that an additional person has recovered and been lifted off of isolation, for a total of 5 of the 18 positive cases thus far. Today, the State of Illinois reported a larger number of 2,049 new cases. This is not a surprise to local officials, because there is more testing being done across the state. The total cases in Illinois is 35,108 across 96 of 102 counties. There were 98 additional deaths for a total of 1,565. 

What to do if you think you have COVID-19: (UPDATED INFORMATION)

During the current Corona Virus outbreak, 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. 

• Use the “KSB Care Anywhere” virtual care app (https://ksbhospital.zipnosis.com/) for a free 5 question screening in order to help differentiate your symptoms between the virus and other seasonal maladies. While a credit card is required for a more involved assessment, no charges will be applied if a COVID-19 testing referral is made.
• KSB is offering a Coronavirus HOTLINE, by which symptoms can be evaluated against federal screening guidelines, and if appropriate, a referral is made to their Drive-Thru Screening site. The screening site is available ONLY through the hotline and between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm on weekdays by calling 815-285-7777.
• Residents with a Primary Care Practitioner can also CALL their office for advice. Again, CALL FIRST before going to the office.

Residents can go to the following websites for additional information:

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

• https://www.ksbhospital.com/coronavirus-outbreak-covid-19/
• 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

For general questions about COVID-19, call the IDPH hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or 211.