Vermilion County Covid-19 positive cases continue to increase. The county is now at 52 COVID-19 related deaths with a 15.1% positivity rate.

"As the fall has gone on and is moving into December now. Our positivity rate is high and remains very high, and we're seeing a lot more hospitalizations, and a lot more deaths recently," said Vermilion County Public Health Administrator Douglas Toole.

Health officials said the increase is mainly due to the spread of the virus within households.

Toole tells WAND News people who test positive should not only isolate a home, but inside a specific room with limited contact to the rest of the home.

Health officials also said the rise in cases is due to the holiday season, as more families and friends get together. Toole said this is the time to think before getting together.

"Please be very thoughtful if you're going to have some sort of gathering. Be creative, be smart (and) be safe. Find ways that you can get together and still keep the people around you safe just in case one of them has the disease," Toole said. 

With cases on the rise, so are mitigations. According to the Vermilion County President, Tinisha Spain, the new precautions tend to negatively impact businesses. She said this makes following the CDC guidelines crucial for the livelihood of Vermilion County's local economy.

"How are we going to be able to keep our workforce healthy, how are we going to be able to keep our essential and non-essential workers to everyone healthy enough to go to work. And in order to do that, you need that buy-in and you need everybody working together." Spain said.

Spain also tells WAND this is not the time for the community to let their guard down.

"Everyone is tired of this. Everyone is experiencing now what we know to be as COVID fatigue, but it's just so important to stay diligent and remember that what we do, what I do, what you do, affects so many other people," Spain said.Â