By Blake Haas

BLOOMINGTON – While rallies across the Twin-Cities have expanded past the recommended ten or fewer people, the McLean County Health Department has yet to identify a COVID-19 case from the gatherings.

“It’s still too early for us to determine that. At this point, we have not had anyone that reported during that case investigation that they were attending those rallies or protests,” McLean County Health Department Administrator Jessica McKnight said.

Several rallies throughout Bloomington-Normal have had anywhere from 500-1,000 people.

“We’re still encouraging everyone to be vigilant in social distancing; we’re not out of the woods with this yet, the virus is still here,” McKnight added. “We look to people to minimize their risk of exposure, promote the use of the everyday preventative actions like washing your hands, and cover your cough. And then protect our high-risk populations, so we know that certain groups of people are at a higher risk of developing serious illness from COVID-19, so we want to be able to keep our community safe and healthy.”

As of Wednesday evening, health officials report 243 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in McLean County. Officials also report 12 individuals remain in home isolation, and 218 have recovered.

There have been 13 deaths in the county.

Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].