Three more Sangamon County COVID-19 deaths reported, first Menard County death since April

COVID-19 caused or contributed to the deaths of three more Sangamon County residents and a Menard County resident, all of them unvaccinated, local health officials said Monday. 

The Sangamon County fatalities were the 23rd, 24th and 25th COVID-19-related deaths reported so far in September. 

The only months in which more COVID-19 deaths were reported were November (35), December (60) and January (43) — when COVID-19 vaccines were not widely available to the general population. 

The new Sangamon County deaths involved a female in her 60s who tested positive for COVID-19 on Sept. 14 and died Sept. 24, a man in his 90s who tested positive Sept. 18 and died Sunday, and a woman in her 70s who tested positive Sept. 20 and died Sunday. 

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A Menard County man in his 60s tested positive for COVID-19 on Sept. 2 and died Friday, according to the Sangamon County Department of Public Health. The Sangamon department serves Menard County residents as part of a contract with Menard County government. 

Sangamon County officials classify people who die with COVID-19 as unvaccinated if they either have received no vaccine or, if in the case of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, they did not receive the full two-shot regimen. 

A fatality is reported as a COVID-19 death if the person’s death certificate lists COVID-19 as a primary or contributing cause of death, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. 

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The new deaths brought Sangamon County’s total COVID-19-related fatalities to 273 and Menard County’s total to eight. Before Monday, the most recent COVID-19 death of a Menard County resident was reported April 8, Wilhite said. 

Thirty-three Sangamon County residents and three Menard County residents with COVID-19 remain hospitalized, officials said. 

For Saturday, Sunday and Monday, Sangamon County officials reported 143 new COVID-19 cases, for a total of 24,861 cases since the pandemic hit central Illinois in spring 2020.  

News:Deaths of man in his 20s, four other Sangamon County residents with COVID-19 reported

Eighteen new COVID-19 cases among Menard County residents were reported during the same three-day period, putting the latest total at 1,626 cases. 

Statewide, 77 new COVID-19 deaths were reported — 52 on Saturday, 20 on Sunday and five on Monday. There have been 24,860 confirmed COVID-19 deaths in Illinois and 2,669 probable deaths, state health department officials said.

Contact Dean Olsen: dolsen@gannett.com; (21`7f) 836-1068; twitter.com/DeanOlsenSJR.