COVID-19 test positivity rate nears 14% for Region 4 in southwestern Illinois

Belleville News-Democrat - 11/12/2020

Nov. 12--The metro-east's COVID-19 testing positivity rate climbed again Thursday, surpassing 13% for the second straight day after having not reached that level since the pandemic began.

The Illinois Department of Public Health reported Thursday the metro-east, or Region 4 as the state refers to it, has a 13.9% testing positivity rate, up from 13.4% on Wednesday. It marked the 23rd-straight day the region has been above the 8% threshold that triggered the restrictions already imposed on the seven-county area.

Wednesday marked the end of a 14-day observation period put in place by the state health department to track the region's positivity rate. According to the state rules, more restrictions could be imminent as the region did not get its positivity rate below 8%.

The new restrictions would further restrict indoor dining, bars and social gatherings.

IDPH is currently recommending that all Illinoisans stay home as much as possible over the next three weeks and only leave the house when needed. In a statement Wednesday, officials said people should only leave to run essential errands, like going to the pharmacy or getting groceries.

St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency Director Herb Simmons said this week that in light of the rising numbers, additional restrictions for Region 4 are inevitable.

A region's positivity rate is its percentage of positive COVID-19 tests versus the number of tests taken over a seven-day period. Region 4 includes St. Clair, Madison, Monroe, Bond, Washington, Clinton and Randolph counties.

On Oct. 28, the state re-implemented tier 1 restrictions from Gov. J.B. Pritzker's Restore Illinois plan after the metro-east reported three consecutive days with an 8% positivity or higher. Currently, all 11 regions in Illinois are subject to at least tier 1 restrictions.

Additionally, the region reported a daily positivity rate of 17.3% on Thursday, up from 15% on Wednesday.

The region's hospital bed capacity was at 22% on Thursday, down from 24% on Wednesday, and its intensive care capacity was at 35% on Thursday, down from 36% on Wednesday. State officials say new restrictions could result if the availability of ICU beds in the region's hospitals falls below 20%.

State of Illinois announces new cases, deaths

Meanwhile, the state of Illinois announced 12,702 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday bringing the total to 536,542. The IDPH also announced 43 additional deaths, bringing the total to 10,477 since the pandemic began.

Also, within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 100,617 new tests for a total of 8,765,100.

As of Wednesday night, 5,258 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19, up from 5,024 the previous day. Of those, 956 patients were in the ICU, up from 951 the day prior, and 438 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators, up from 404.

The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total tests from Nov. 5-11 is 12.6%, an increase from 12.4% the day prior.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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