Peoria Standard

Officials at the Illinois Department of Public Health said on Jan. 16 that they would allow limited indoor seating at restaurants in Region 2. 

The area includes Bureau, Fulton, Grundy, Henderson, Henry, Kendall, Knox, LaSalle, Livingston, Marshall, McDonough, McLean, and Mercer, Peoria, Putnam, Rock Island, Stark, Tazewell, Warren and Woodford counties.

The report on the website CIProud.com said the status is called “Tier 1 Mitigation.”

As of Jan. 17, health officials reported more than 4,100 new cases of COVID-19 and 29 additional deaths. One of the deceased was a female in Peoria in her 20s, the report noted. 

The pandemic in Illinois has totaled more than 1 million cases of the coronavirus, with 18,829 deaths.

In 24 hours, labs examined 96,845 samples of 14,763,992 residents tested, CIProud reported. Of those who tested positive for the virus, 3,408 had serious enough complications to be admitted to hospitals, with 720 patients in intensive care and 387 on breathing apparatus ventilators.

From Jan. 10 through Jan. 16, the rate of those who tested positive for the virus was 6.1%.

Illinois officials reported that 781,150 doses of vaccine have been delivered to health providing facilities, while 268,525 doses have been allocated to long-term care facilities. Those doses came through a federal allocation program called the “Pharmacy Partnership Program.”

The number of doses received stands at 1,049,675, the report added.

Health Department officials said the number of vaccine doses given is 487,040 and 66,679 for residents of long-term and assisted care facilities.

The seven-day average number of doses administered in January stood at 23,546 per day.

The Chicago Tribune reported on Jan. 15 the pace of vaccine distribution had been disappointing, but health officials now hope to pick up the pace. The next distribution phase will include people 65 years old and older and essential workers, including teachers and grocery store employees.