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Winnebago County seeing big spike

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Illinois

* Jim Hagerty for the Rockford Register Star…

The pandemic is far from over in Winnebago County.

That was the message local officials sent to the public Monday as they announced that Winnebago County is now seeing 502 cases of the virus per 100,000 people and a test-positivity rate of 10.1%, indication of another winter surge.

There have been 539 cases reported countywide in the last three days, and a total of 126 people, including two infants, are currently hospitalized.

And with Thanksgiving just days away, Sandra Martell, Winnebago County public health administrator, said she expects the situation to get worse as unvaccinated people from different households gather to celebrate. […]

Dr. Stephen Bartlett, OSF HealthCare’s chief medical officer, said Rockford medical centers are handling the situation well at the moment, but they could be forced to curtail elective surgery and other services if the COVID situation doesn’t improve.

The county’s vax rate is 61.4 percent, among the lowest in the region.

Get your shots, people.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Nov 23, 21 @ 8:58 am

Comments

Legit question: why don’t health insurance companies charge higher premiums for the unvaccinated that are eligible to take the shot. They can charge smokers more.

Comment by Just Me 2 Tuesday, Nov 23, 21 @ 9:20 am
===They can charge smokers more===

Back in the 70s when my family lived in Utah for a couple of years, that state allowed higher auto insurance premiums for smokers. Supposedly, it was about the potential for distracted driving.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Nov 23, 21 @ 9:25 am
@Just Me 2:

A few companies have already started charging unvaccinated employees more for health insurance.

Comment by Demoralized Tuesday, Nov 23, 21 @ 9:28 am
Here’s a question I have. Can we safely assume that covid numbers are undercounted because of the existence of home tests at pharmacies? A friends kid tested positive with a home test and is just riding it out. I don’t think they’ll report it to authorities. Is this factored into the numbers some how? Just wondering

Comment by Honeybear Tuesday, Nov 23, 21 @ 9:29 am
Why are fully vaccinated people coming down with covid? Maybe that be the reluctance of the unvaxed?I dunno.

Comment by Momma Tuesday, Nov 23, 21 @ 9:48 am
=== A friends kid tested positive with a home test and is just riding it out. ===

Did they notify their child’s school?

Comment by Thomas Paine Tuesday, Nov 23, 21 @ 9:48 am
===Is this factored into the numbers some how?===

Nope. I had a post on this topic a week or so ago.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Nov 23, 21 @ 9:52 am
In the summer, we saw a spillover from Kentucky, Missouri, Southern Indiana and the Quad Cities from the pandemic into Illinois.

Now, we are seeing a spillover from Northern Indiana and Wisconsin.

It’s kinda like gun control: strong protections are only so helpful when you can go right across the border and get COVID, or when people can cross over your border and bring COVID with them.

Cook County has been spared so far, but holiday travel is likely to wipe that out in January.

Comment by Thomas Paine Tuesday, Nov 23, 21 @ 9:54 am
I wish Union county’s vax rate was 61%.

Comment by Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter Tuesday, Nov 23, 21 @ 10:04 am
My mom’s best friend in Rockford just died of covid after a long, horrible siege. I wish people would just get vaccinated.

Comment by Soccermom Tuesday, Nov 23, 21 @ 10:04 am
@Soccermom Condolences to your mother and her friends family.

Getting really tired of reading posts like that when we all know exactly who is pumping out the misinformation. Is there literally nothing we can do to stop Fox/OANN/Conservative facebook candidates that generate 95% of the bs that’s killinh people? Tucker Carlson just put out that “documentary” about how the FBI working with …. mole people? are responsible for Jan 6th instead of his bloviating mouth.

Why do we have to just sit here and watch them tear down the fabric of society and reality?

Comment by Commisar Gritty Tuesday, Nov 23, 21 @ 10:21 am
Typo: I meant to say conservative facebook pundits, not candidates, but that’s also often correct regrettably.

Comment by Commisar Gritty Tuesday, Nov 23, 21 @ 10:22 am
Thomas Paine, woops, the “kid” in question is 21. Sorry, he’s and adult but still my friends kid.

Comment by Honeybear Tuesday, Nov 23, 21 @ 10:47 am
Thanks Rich, sorry I missed it. I’ll try to find it. Thanks again.

Comment by Honeybear Tuesday, Nov 23, 21 @ 10:49 am
@Momma - “Why are fully vaccinated people coming down with covid?”

Because vaccines aren’t 100% effective…none ever are. The point is that they greatly reduce (not eliminate) the chances that you can get it, and if you do get it, it greatly reduces the likelihood that you’re going to have a serious case of it.

So, yes, fully vaccinated people are still coming down with COVID, but the majority of people coming down with COVID are unvaccinated, and the VAST majority of people dying from COVID are unvaccinated.

Comment by Scott Tuesday, Nov 23, 21 @ 11:22 am
===Momma - Tuesday, Nov 23, 21 @ 9:48 am:
Why are fully vaccinated people coming down with covid? Maybe that be the reluctance of the unvaxed?I dunno.===

Breakthrough cases happen. I am fully vaxxed and came down with COVID earlier this fall. Felt like an ordinary cold and was only really down for a day. Despite having several risk factors, I never came remotely close to requiring any medical care and needed no expensive monoclonal antibody treatment, horse dewormer or even OTC cold meds to recover.

The vaccine worked as advertised. Without it, my risk of negative outcomes would have been 14 times greater.

Perhaps this example will help overcome any reluctance.

Comment by Dance Band on the Titanic Tuesday, Nov 23, 21 @ 11:37 am
Masks are becoming less and less prevalent in the area and I can see why Winnebago county continues to struggle given the tone of the discourse earlier in the pandemic.

Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Nov 23, 21 @ 12:17 pm