BOURBONNAIS – From August 31st to September 30th, Kankakee County Health Department (KCHD) reported 550 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, averaging 18 new cases per day during the month.
That’s a 9 percent increase vs. August when 504 cases were reported by the agency for the month, making September the worst reporting month for Kankakee County since May. Last May, 774 cases were reported across a 31-day stretch, with the County averaging nearly 25 new cases per day.
By comparison, Kankakee County had a total of 584 COVID-19 cases during the beginning of the Summer, stretching across June and July.
During September, five new deaths were reported in the county for the month. The current death total now sits at 72 since the pandemic began in Kankakee.
Among the case numbers for the period, 271 were male and 279 were female. Ages 20-29 lead the way in all reported cases with 103 cases during the period with cases 40-49 in second with 100 cases. For school-aged children, 97 reported cases came in for the period, with 41 cases younger than 13 years of age.
On Friday, KCHD reported 25 new cases, with 282 active cases in the County. Since October 1st, 46 new cases have been reported by the agency.
Nine area residents are currently hospitalized for the virus in Kankakee.
As of October 1st, the seven-day rolling positivity rate for Region 7 was 5.5 percent.
Sadly I’m not surprised the infection rate in Kankakee County is up. Some businesses are doing nothing about mask wearing or social distancing. I was at Midas in Bourbonnais and there are no signs up about wearing masks or social distancing. The closest thing to mask wearing was one guy at the desk wearing a mask around his chin. A customer came in without a mask, headed to the waiting room and nothing was said to them about a mask. No one in the shop was wearing a mask. I won’t be returning to this business; such disregard for the public’s health.