The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 8,828 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus in the state, including 181 additional deaths. One of the decease was a female patient from Champaign County in her 70s. As of Wednesday evening, 4,751 Illinoisans were reported hospitalized. Of those, 1,056 patients were in the ICU and 575 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
Area residents are relieve to see the positivity decline. As of Thursday morning, the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District was reporting three cases in Ogden, Philo and Sidney with 4 each and no reported cases in Royal. In the low 50s much of the past week, St. Joseph is down to 46 cases and Tolono has 24 in the are covered by the 61880 zip code.
"I do think it’s positive to see so many people willing to wear a mask to try and help slow the spread though," said Kendra Pence, of St. Joseph. "I know many don’t necessarily like the masks or believe they totally help, but I think they are helpful and I’m thankful and feel more comfortable when I see people wearing them. In many counties around us, you don’t see a lot of masks, so it is refreshing to see people here willing to try and do their part to slow this thing down!"
Overall, the average statewide positivity rate is down to 8.4%, which is more good news considering some parts of the country are experiencing a surge in new COVID-19 cases. Weeks before Thanksgiving on November 13 that number was at an alarming 13.2%.
"I think we’re seeing the decrease in positivity rates because there are more people staying home with the current restrictions and as they do venture out they are wearing masks," says Brian Booher, of Tolono. "I hope we can continue to decline and allow for some of these restrictions to be relaxed more, especially as a vaccine has been released and people in the area are getting it."
Three of the state’s 11 regions are already below the criteria initially set by Governor J.B. Pritzker to move back to Tier 2 mitigations, which would bring back indoor dining and allowing bars to operate with restrictions again.
Susan McDonald Santiago, from St. Joseph, thinks there are several reasons why the number of cases is shrinking. She narrowed it down to three.
"It comes down to people taking it seriously and caring about their community," Santiago said. "Knowing this is short term and having modern technology also helps."
Mike Tankersley, from St. Joseph, said he is not really sure why our region is doing better.
"I think maybe we’re just being a bit more careful recently given the dire warnings of what the winter months might bring."
Meanwhile, Abby Schopp, owner of For Love of Hair, people are doing what it takes to spend the holidays with loved ones. She believes surge came before Thanksgiving.
"My personal opinion is because we had our surge right after Halloween when it started getting cooler," she said. She noted that many people were very cautious or still in quarantine for Thanksgiving and most of her clients we being incredibly safe and practicing as many COVID friendly habits as they possibly could. "We had such a huge amount of canceled and rescheduled appointments in the beginning of November and shortly after Thanksgiving.
"We have also had many people push their December appointments back to January in an attempt to isolate so they can safely see their families for Christmas celebrations. People really are trying their best and I optimistically hope that's why we didn't have a Thanksgiving surge."
The goal of the program is to encourage farmers to plant additional acres of cover crops that are not covered by other state or federal incentives. It allows eligible farm operations to receive a premium discount of $5 per acre on the following year's crop insurance for every acre of cover crop enrolled and verified in the program. The program is only applicable for those with coverage through the United States Department of Agriculture Risk Management Agency (USDA-RMA) crop insurance program.
"We will only be opening half of the building to start," said co-owner and director Nicole Uher, who has been working with Jones on the project for the past two years. "In this phase there will be four classrooms: one infant room ages six weeks through fourteen months, one toddler room ages fifteen months through three years, one preschool room ages three years through five years, and one after school/summer room for children ages five years through twelve years."
On the first Christmas Mary and Joseph had traveled to Bethlehem to pay their taxes. They were among a multitude of other people who were making the same trip for the same reason.
The Bible says there was no room for them in the Inn. They found refuge in a stable and in the night, Mary delivered her baby. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a cow's trough.
Soon, Shepherds watching their sheep in the fields were alerted by a heavenly host of angels about the special baby who had been born. They quickly made hast to celebrate and worship the new baby Jesus. Eventually in the Bible story Wise men from the East traveled a long distance to see the new child. They brought with them gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh and worshipped him. When you read the first couple of chapters of Matthew and Luke's gospels you learn Christmas is about Jesus.
You also learn he was loved, held in the arms of his mother, adored by the shepherds and worshiped by wise astrologers who went to great effort and time to visit him
This Christmas we should all once again embrace the baby Jesus and celebrate his deity and mission to bring love and peace to our hearts. We need his love and peace. We need his joy to the world. Even in the hardest times of life people have found the joy of Jesus at Christmas time. Often the simplest things have a way of bringing the most joy. A baby in a manger. Peasant shepherds dropping by to say hello. Strangers visiting later to bring some gifts.
The people of Christmas are those who are the players of Christmas. We don't pay that much attention to the sheep of Christmas, the donkeys or the camels. The people are what make Christmas special. There would not be a Christmas story without the baby, Mary and Joseph.
Who are the people in your Christmas story? Growing up it was Mama Mollette, Mama Hinkle and Grandpa Hinkle, uncles and aunts, first cousins. Parents Walt and Eula Mollette, sisters and brothers and their children. Later my church families became very significantly involved in my Christmas story. Today there are new faces of extended family, their spouses and now grandchildren. The landscape has dramatically changed.
Years ago, I never imagined Christmas would change so much. Most of the people who I once celebrated Christmas with have passed on or live somewhere else. The people you and I celebrate Christmas with this year will soon pass on or relocate to live somewhere else. The point is this, embrace your Christmas while you can. Embrace your people while you can. The people in your life are your Christmas.
Christmas gifts, trees and decorations are all nice and fun. However, give love, and as safely as you can because of Covid-19, celebrate each other this year. It's always the people of Christmas who make up the Christmas story. While our celebrations this year may be remotely, use your telephone, computers and whatever means you have to connect with your most precious gifts of Christmas - the people in your life.
