COLES COUNTY, Ill. (WAND) - Coles County has been moved to orange "warning" status for its COVID-19 statistics, officials said. Â
The Illinois Department of Public Health monitors several indicators in each county and looks to see if each county is meeting or exceeding its indicator target. Counties meeting set targets are in blue on the IDPH website, while counties that aren't are in orange.Â
Indicators looked at include new cases, test positivity, COVID-like illness (CLI) ED visits, CLI admissions, clusters, new deaths, ICU availability and number of tests. In a press release, Coles County Health Department officials said a county is placed in warning status if two or more indicators are heading the wrong way.
Coles County was reporting 469 total cases of COVID-19 on Aug. 7, including 21 new cases on that day alone. The county had 19 deaths at that time.Â
"The county-level risk indicators are a warning that a county could be headed the wrong direction and people should take additional steps to slow the spread of the virus," health department officials said.Â
WAND-TV reached out to CCHD for more information about what led to the warning status label and did not immediately hear back.
