County Board Health Committee Updated on COVID Numbers

Changes are in the offing as to how COVID cases will be processed in Effingham County and in the state of Illinois.

Effingham County Health Department Administrator Jeff Workman told the County Board Health Committee Tuesday afternoon that the Illinois Department of Public Health will take over all contact tracing later this month.

Another development, according to the Health Department's Karen Feldkamp, is her belief that COVID boosters will be needed for someone to be considered fully vaccinated. That is not yet official, though. 

As far as the numbers for the county, there have been 8,194 positive COVID cases since the pandemic began. There have been 111 confirmed COVID-related deaths in the county, with another 20 deaths probable due to COVID. Feldkamp said "10+" people are patients in HSHS St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital due to COVID. 

Feldkamp reported that 36,817 vaccines have been administered in the county, with 15,379 people fully vaccinated. That's 44% of the county population. She said 85% of those 65 and older have been fully vaccinated, 41% of those ages 16 to 64 are fully vaccinated, 22% of those 12 to 16 are fully vaccinated, and 5.5% of those ages 5 to 11 are fully vaccinated.

The Omicron variant has still not been widely seen in Effingham County. Workman said his understanding is that while Omicron is more contagious, it is not as severe.