Four weekly COVID deaths reported in Knox County; new cases up from previous week
GALESBURG — Knox County reported four COVID-related deaths last week, the highest weekly death toll in since at least April.
Erin Olson, Knox County Health Department’s director of wellness and public information officer, said the county gets its COVID data from the state and that those numbers are delayed, meaning that the four people who died from COVID could have died prior to last week.
Olson also said that the county health department could not confirm when was the last time there were COVID deaths in Knox County as the county health department does not report deaths in every news release and had stopped doing so for a period of time.
Last week's total of four deaths was higher than the previous eight weeks combined, when three deaths were reported, according to The Register-Mail's tracking. In fact, only five deaths were reported over the previous 16 weeks. The death toll now stands at 224 in Knox County for the duration of the pandemic.
Knox County reported 117 cases in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 100 cases. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 14,352 cases.
Knox County is in a “high” rate of transmission, according to the CDC COVID-19 county check that records community levels of COVID-19.
Olson said that the Knox County Health Department cannot predict if case levels will increase as students go back to school starting Wednesday, but said the department is working directly with schools conducting contact tracing. The Knox County Health Department also offers free COVID-19 testing on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
“We do need to remind our community that we still need to be very vigilant,” Olson said. “Whether you are a student going to school, faculty, parents, residents, we remind everybody that you get your boosters, you get your vaccinations, continue to wash your hands, test for COVID and stay home if you are sick.”
​ Across Illinois, cases fell in 62 counties, with the best declines in Cook County, with 9,429 cases from 11,438 a week earlier; in Lake County, with 1,503 cases from 1,809; and in Will County, with 1,397 cases from 1,702. ​
>> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases
​Within Illinois, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Gallatin County with 621 cases per 100,000 per week; Calhoun County with 570; and Hardin County with 550. The Centers for Disease Control says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 per week.
Adding the most new cases overall were Cook County, with 9,429 cases; DuPage County, with 2,098 cases; and Lake County, with 1,503. Weekly case counts rose in 38 counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in Montgomery, Rock Island and Kankakee counties.
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In Illinois, ​ 142 ​ people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, 84 people were reported dead.
A total of 3,620,877 people in Illinois have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 39,108 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 92,927,104 people have tested positive and 1,037,021 people have died.
>> Track coronavirus cases across the United States
Illinois's COVID-19 hospital admissions falling
USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, Aug. 14. Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:
Last week: 3,360
The week before that: 3,432
Four weeks ago: 3,386
Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:
Last week: 72,082
The week before that: 71,315
Four weeks ago: 70,906
Hospitals in 13 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 18 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 27 states admitted more COVID-19 patients in the latest week than a week prior, the USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Health and Human Services data shows.
The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control. If you have questions about the data or the story, contact Mike Stucka at mstucka@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: Knox County reported 117 additional COVID-19 cases for last week
