By Blake Haas
BLOOMINGTON – With higher vaccination rates among Americans, a Central Illinois Doctor believes the country is turning the corner when it comes to COVID-19.
On Monday, the McLean County Health Department reported 98 new virus cases; however, the county’s cumulative positivity rate dropped to 4.2% from 4.4%.
Dr. John Wieland with Carle BroMenn Medical Center said he believed cases were declining back in May before the Delta variant swept the nation.
“I think that we’re better than we were before because more people have been vaccinated, and unfortunately, more people have had the disease and (have) recovered. So that confirms a certain amount of natural immunity to them as well, vaccinated or not.”
MCHD officials on Monday also reported 188,924 doses of the vaccine had been administered, and 54.54% of the county’s population is fully vaccinated.
LISTEN” Dr. John Weiland spoke with WJBC’s Scott Miller.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) reports 55.80% of Illinoians are fully vaccinated.
“I think the trend is very hopeful, and we just have to sort of monitor and see. When you look at areas that have higher COVID rates, just recently, even with the rest of the nation dropping, it’s largely because of if not, completely because of an unvaccinated population that’s been exposed to this variant,” added Dr. Wieland.
So the Delta variant is about 99 point something percent of all COVID that’s being diagnosed now.”
Since the start of the pandemic, 25,224 Illinoians have died from COVID-19.
Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].
