The head of the Rock Island County Health Department is worried about a jump in the number of COVID-19 cases.
Michelle O'Neill has more.
The number of coronavirus cases in the Quad Cities has now reached 3,077, with about half in Rock Island County (1,550) and half in Scott County (1,527).
Administrator Nita Ludwig reports 49 new cases today, and 21 of them are from an outbreak at St. Anthony's Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Rock Island. But she's worried about the other 28 cases, too and says, "We must get this number down" or risk overwhelming health care clinics and hospitals.
Under the Restore Illinois plan, Rock Island County is in Phase 4, along with the rest of Region Two. Last week, the state health department put four counties on notice for being at a warning level, but not Rock Island County.
Ludwig says the state's regional statistics are from the week of July 18th.
And only one statistic is not within the targeted level (cases).
She says two of the county metrics must be outside the targeted ranges to be at the "warning level."
If that happens, the county will have to figure out why the numbers are rising and address it. (See press release below.)
Even though Rock Island County has experienced an increase in COVID-19 cases, the infection rate has been slowly decreasing. It's currently at 4.7% compared to 6.5% a month ago. The number of deaths has been stable at 30 for a month, with 23 of the people who died living in nursing homes.
Scott County's infection rate has been rising, and is currently at 6.8% compared to 5.3% a month ago. Eleven Scott County residents have died of coronavirus disease.
21860-Four Illinois Countie... by Michelle O'Neill on Scribd
