Will County Reports More Than 800 New Coronavirus Cases In A Week

WILL COUNTY, IL — As the state reveled in holiday celebrations — or not — the number of coronavirus cases and deaths in Will County continued to increase. As of Sunday, the county has 53,165 COVID-19 cases, which is an increase of 891 since Dec. 30.

During the same five days, the number of deaths increased by 12 to 730, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Joliet continues to have the highest number of cases in Will County each week, and for the week of Dec. 7 (the most recent numbers available) the city had 722 cases, according to the Will County Health Department’s website. Plainfield had the second highest number at 498 cases, while Bolingbrook ranked third highest with 430 cases.

Coronavirus vaccines have started arriving in Illinois and the state is following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) which is breaking up the vaccination process into four phases, focusing on "critical populations" first.

Will County received almost 4,000 doses of the new Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine last month. The first phase of vaccinations include health care workers, physicians, nurses, nursing assistants, environmental services, respiratory technicians, dentists, hygienists, long term care staff, assisted living staff, home caregivers, morticians, funeral directors and coroner staff who are involved with the deceased.

"At the same time that we applaud the arrival of the first vaccines for our health care workers, we’re reminded of just how deadly this pandemic has been,” Congressman Bill Foster (D-IL) said. "More Americans have died from COVID-19 than were killed in combat in World War II. The scale of this loss of life and the grief felt by so many families is immense and our thoughts are with everyone who has lost friends or loved ones to this virus. As we wait for the vaccine to be widely available, we need to remain vigilant about following the advice of doctors and public health experts to save as many lives as possible and help our health care workers. Wear a mask in public, practice social distancing as much as possible, and stay home and call your doctor if you’re feeling sick."

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