Knox County improves to medium transmission rate; one person dies of COVID

Tom Martin, Galesburg Register-Mail
·3 min read
Knox County improved to medium transmission rate for COVID-19. Counties colored yellow are medium transmission, while blue counties are low transmission. Orange counties show high transmission rates.
Knox County improved to medium transmission rate for COVID-19. Counties colored yellow are medium transmission, while blue counties are low transmission. Orange counties show high transmission rates.

GALESBURG — New weekly COVID cases persist in Knox County, but the county's transmission rate dropped to medium. One person died due to COVID last week, bringing to total deaths to 218.

Transmission rates in western Illinois

High transmission

• Peoria County

Medium transmission

• Knox County

• Warren County

• Fulton County

Low transmission

• Henry

• Mercer

• Stark

Knox County reported 93 cases, down from 95 a week prior. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 13,639 cases and 218 deaths. The transmission rate dropped to 195 per 100,000 people.  The rate was Knox County 334 per 100,000 people three weeks ago.

Recent COVID upates: Knox County's COVID cases fall 41%; county remains in high transmission

For residents of counties with medium risk, the CDC recommends those at high risk for severe illness should talk to their health care provider about whether to wear a mask in public.

New coronavirus cases increased 4.1% in Illinois in the week ending Sunday as the state added 28,216 cases. The previous week had 27,094 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.

Illinois ranked 18th among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the latest week coronavirus cases in the United States increased 11.8% from the week before, with 800,077 cases reported. With 3.81% of the country's population, Illinois had 3.53% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 38 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.

New weekly COVID cases in Knox County

April 4: 3

April 11: 6

April 18: 9

April 25: 52

May 2: 30

May 9: 42

May 16: 69

May 23: 95

May 31 188

June 6: 140

June 13: 144

June  20: 162

June 27: 95

July 5: 93

Within Illinois, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Adams County with 429 cases per 100,000 per week; Sangamon County with 355; and Lawrence County with 344. 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 10,844 cases; DuPage County, with 2,168 cases; and Will County, with 1,637. Weekly case counts rose in 59 counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in Cook, Will and DuPage counties.

>> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases

Across Illinois, cases fell in 42 counties, with the best declines in Vermilion County, with 221 cases from 325 a week earlier; in McLean County, with 406 cases from 489; and in Morgan County, with 75 cases from 158.

In Illinois, 91 people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, 100 people were reported dead.

A total of 3,435,405 people in Illinois have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 38,601 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 87,843,561 people have tested positive and 1,017,848 people have died.

>> Track coronavirus cases across the United States

Illinois's COVID-19 hospital admissions rising

USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, July 3. Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:

  • Last week: 3,449

  • The week before that: 3,210

  • Four weeks ago: 3,186

Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:

  • Last week: 65,244

  • The week before that: 61,335

  • Four weeks ago: 56,288

Hospitals in 33 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 28 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 40 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.

Mike Stucka contributed to this story. 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.

This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: Knox County moves to medium COVID-19 transmission