ST. CLAIR COUNTY, Ill. — Illinois' overall positivity rate has decreased steadily for the last two months, but the positivity rate in the Metro East is nearing a threshold that could result in increased COVID-19 restrictions.
Region 4 — which is made up of Bond, Clinton, Madison, Monroe, Randolph, St. Clair, Washington counties — has a seven-day average positivity rate of 7.9% Thursday. Regions with an average positivity rate above 8% for three days in a row could face new restrictions.
In July, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker announced a regional plan to prevent the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the state. According to the plan, any region with a positivity rate over eight percent to have additional mitigating efforts put in place.
Thursday's positivity rate for Region 4 is the closest it has been to the threshold since the plan was put in place back in July. The previous high was 7.8% on July 25, but the region reported decreasing or unchanged positivity rate nine of the next 10 days.
If the region does see three days of average positivity over 8%, the health department would consider implementing what it calls tier-one mitigation efforts. Those efforts could include:
- Reducing indoor dining capacity and suspend indoor bar service
- Reducing elective surgeries and procedures and limiting hospital visitation
- Additional limits on gatherings and room capacity at meetings, social events and religious gatherings
- Reducing indoor capacity at gyms and shops
Region 5 — which consists of most of the counties in southern Illinois — had a seven-day average positivity rate of 7.5%, which was the second-highest of any region in the state.
According to the Illinois Department of Health, two counties in Region 4 were showing more warning signs of increased transmission: Monroe and St. Clair.
The department's county-by-county dashboard showed both counties lagging behind in the state's positivity rate goals over the last week. St. Clair County had a positivity rate of 8.6 over the last week on 5,349 tests while Monroe reported a positivity of 9.7% on 349 tests performed.
Both counties are also seeing much higher rates of new cases per 100,000 residents. The Illinois Department of Public Health set a target of fewer than 50 cases per 100,000 residents per week, but Monroe County reported 157 per 100,000 while St. Clair County reported 175 per 100,000.
More than half of the counties in the state are above the state's target of new cases per 100,000.
Despite the recent increase in positivity rate in the region, the region's hospitalization data has reminded within the range the state considers safe.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly labeled the positivity rates provided by the Illinois Department of Public Health as three-day averages. This story has been updated to correct the error.
