Washington County sees 32 new COVID cases in the past week

The Washington County Health Department reported the largest rise in new COVID-19 cases this past week.

The WCHD announced Monday that 32 cases had been reported to the department from Nov. 16 to Nov. 22. That total is significantly larger than the last update, which stated that there were 15 reporting.

The new cases include one who are 1-5 years old; three 11-15 year-old; four 16-19 year old; five in their 20s; five in their 30s; four in their 40s; six in their 50s; one in their 60s; two in their 70s; and one in their 80s.

In total, there have been 71 cases reported to the WCHD in November.

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, Washington County, all of Southern Illinois and most of the state are considered areas of high transmission. Washington County has a test positivity rate of 8.41 percent.

For the week of Nov. 7, Washington County had a test positivity rate of 4.9. According to the IDPH, the trend has continued with the county has had a daily test positivity that has mostly remained under the 8 percent threshold.