Outbreak of COVID-19 Among Dept of Corrections Staff Reported in Morgan, While Cass, Greene Also See Increased Cases

By Jeremy Coumbes on August 7, 2020 at 6:17pm

The Morgan County Health Department has received confirmation of 14 additional cases of COVID-19.

The 265th – 270th cases include 1 female in her 20’s, 1 female in her 40’s, 1 female in her 50’s, 1 female in her 60’s, and 2 males in their 60’s. All are isolating at home.

The 271st – 276th cases are employees at the Long term care center outbreak at Jacksonville Skilled Nursing and Rehab. The 277th and 278th cases were transferred to Morgan County from another county as a result of contact tracing.

The Morgan County Health Department also announced today, along with the Illinois Department of Corrections and Illinois Department of Public Health are working together on an outbreak among Department of Corrections staff. All affected employees are isolated at home.

According to the Illinois Department of Corrections website, to date five staff members of the Jacksonville Correctional Facility have tested positive for COVID-19, with one listed as having recovered. No incarcerated individuals have tested positive at the Jacksonville facility at this time.

Morgan County now has confirmed a total of 278 cases with 111 remaining active and 161 released from restrictions.

The Illinois Department of Public Health has confirmed five new cases of Covid-19 in Cass County today. The positive cases include a female under the age of 10, two males in their 20’s, a female in her 40’s, and a female in her 50’s.

Positive cases are being notified and instructed to isolate at home. Cass County’s overall Covid-19 case count is now at 232. The total number recovered is 171, with eleven deceased. One person remains hospitalized.

The Greene County Health Department confirmed five new cases of COVID-19 today. Green County Heath Department officials continue to ask area residents not to hold large gatherings of 50 or more people due to the increasing numbers.

Officials say the rise in cases has become especially concerning over the last week and a half. On july 5th, Greene County had 8 total confirmed cases. By July 24th, 15 total cases, on August 1st the number was up to 19, and by Wednesday of this week the number of cases had risen to 34.

As of today, Greene County now has a total of 39 confirmed cases with 22 of those remaining active and 16 having recovered. Health Department Officials say they are concerned the numbers will continue to double over a shorter period of time, if residents do not err on the side of caution.

The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 2,084 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 21 additional confirmed deaths.

The last time the state was over 2000 cases in a single day was on May 24th.

IDPH today reported 13 counties in Illinois are considered to be at a warning level for COVID-19. A county enters a warning level when two or more COVID-19 risk indicators set forth by IDPH that measure the amount of COVID-19 increase.

Thirteen counties are currently reported at a warning level – Cass, Coles, Grundy, Iroquois, Jackson, Monroe, Perry, Saline, St. Clair, Tazewell, Union, Williamson, Winnebago. Sangamon County fell off the warning list this week, however it still has a positivity rate of 6.2%. By comparison Cass County is at 15.1% and Morgan County is currently at 6.8%.

Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 46,869 specimens for a total of 2,984,618. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from July 31 – August 6 is 4.1%.

As of last night, 1,486 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 333 patients were in the ICU and 125 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.