Photo provided by Illinois Department for Public Health
NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois Department for Public Health (IDPH) issued an announcement that there were six counties in Illinois are at an elevated medium community level risk for COVID as of last Friday.
The IDPH has reported over four million total cases and nearly 37,000 deaths in 102 counties in Illinois since the beginning of the pandemic in March of 2020. IDPH Director, Dr. Sameer Vohra, spoke on the current levels being at a lower risk compared to a few years ago to this time last year.
“It is great to see COVID community levels remaining low as we enjoy some warmer springtime weather,” said IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra. “While President Joe Biden signed a measure to end the national emergency this week, IDPH remains focused on reducing the spread of COVID across Illinois.”
IDPH also announced one million free antigen tests made available for all Illinois residents outside of Chicago zip codes.
With the medium community level risk that was announced this past week set to end on May 11, Southern Illinois University has made available tele-health treatment appointments. The service is aimed at providing faster and easier access to treatment for Illinois residents who contract COVID. This will help improve the efficiency of treatment for COVID and slow the spread of the respiratory disease.
In Illinois there are only two counties remaining that are at an elevated risk for COVID. The two counties are Iroquois and Kankakee County along the shared Illinois-Indiana border.