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Kane/DuPage and Will/Kankakee regions hit state's COVID-19 fail-safe for enhanced mitigations as statewide hospitalizations rise

Two suburban regions hit the state’s fail-safe of three days at or above 8% positive for COVID-19, while the Illinois Department of Public Health announced 3,714 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 41 additional deaths Tuesday.

The West Suburban (DuPage and Kane counties) and South Suburban (Will and Kankakee) regions joined Region 1 and 5 to be placed under enhanced mitigations, beginning Friday after each region’s positivity rate stayed above 8% for three consecutive days. In DuPage/Kane and Will/Kankakee regions, along with Region 1 and 5, indoor dining and bar service will be prohibited, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker announced Tuesday.

The seven-day rolling average of Illinois’ positivity rate went up to 5.5%. The state received the results of 59,077 COVID-19 tests in the 24 hours leading up to Tuesday afternoon.

Illinois now has seen 350,875 total cases of the virus, and 9,277 people have died. The state has conducted a total of 6,824,237 tests since the start of the pandemic.

As of late Monday, Illinois had 2,261 COVID-19 patients in the hospital. Of those, 489 were in intensive care units, and 195 were on ventilators. That is the highest number of COVID-19 patients in the ICU since June 18, and the most total COVID-19 hospitalizations since June 10.

“There is no easy fix for the effects of this virus on our economy and on our public health, but we can and we will manage through this,” Pritzker said at Tuesday’s daily COVID-19 press briefing. “If you’re getting tired and you’ve let your guard down, now is the time to pick it back up. We have to do our part to reduce the spread of the virus; we have to do this for each other, for our schools, for our small businesses. We can and we will.”

At this time, Pritzker said, the state is not considering another state-at-home order. He also announced that small businesses will receive priority considerations in the current round of Business Interruption Grants.

IDPH director Dr. Ngozi Ezike urged people to continue safe COVID-19 practices.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” Ezike said. “Numbers in most of the regions are trending in the wrong direction. If your region does have the implemented mitigation measures, please, let’s get on board and help our community get back on track.

“We know what works: wear your face covering; watch your distance; wash your hands; keep to smaller groups. Those simple actions keep you, your family and your communities safe.”

Regional update: Additional restrictions can be placed on any of the state’s 11 health regions if the region sustains an increase in its average positivity rate for seven days out of a 10-day period.

A region may also become more restrictive if there is a seven-day increase in hospital admissions for COVID-19-related illness or a reduction in hospital medical/surgical beds or ICU capacity below 20%. If a region reports three consecutive days with greater than an 8% average positivity rate, additional infection mitigation will be considered through a tiered system of restriction guidelines offered by the IDPH.

The North Suburban region (McHenry and Lake counties) has seen eight days of positivity increases – meeting one criteria for stricter mitigation measures – and four days of hospital admission increases. The region’s positivity rate increased from 7.3% to 7.5%. Currently, 40% of medical/surgical beds and 51% of ICU beds are available.

Regional data from the IDPH remains on a three-day lag and counts total positive tests rather than individuals who may test positive more than once, but within this region, McHenry County’s seven-day positivity rate average climbed once again from 10.2% to 11.8%. McHenry County had a single-day positivity rate of 19.5% for Oct. 17, the most recent day added to IDPH’s regional data.

Lake County, which completes about two-thirds of the testing in the region, saw its rolling average decrease from 6.4% to 6.2%.

The West Suburban region (DuPage and Kane counties) has seen 10 days of positivity increases – meeting one criteria for stricter mitigation measures – and five days of hospital admission increases. The region’s positivity rate increased from 8.5% to 9.0%. Currently, 34% of medical/surgical beds and 44% of ICU beds are available.

The Kane/DuPage region hit the state’s fail-safe of 8% positive in its seven-day rolling average for the third day in a row. The region is now subject to enhanced mitigations, which in previous regions have included closing indoor dining and bar service. Gov. JB Pritzker is scheduled to give a COVID-19 update at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Within this region, Kane County’s rolling seven-day positivity average increased from 10.9% to 11.9%.

The South Suburban region (Will and Kankakee counties) has seen nine days of positivity increases and six days of hospital admission increases. The region’s positivity rate increased from 8.3% to 8.6%. Currently, 29% of the region’s medical/surgical beds and 25% of ICU beds are available.

The Will/Kankakee region hit the state’s fail-safe of 8% positive in its seven-day rolling average for the third straight day, making it eligible for enhanced mitigations, which have included closing indoor dining and bar service. This would be the second time this region would be hit with additional mitigations.

The North region (Boone, Carroll, DeKalb, Jo Daviess, Lee, Ogle, Stephenson, Whiteside and Winnebago counties) has seen eight days of positivity increases and four days of hospital admission increases. The region’s positivity rate increased from 11.1% to 11.8%, still the highest rate of any of the state’s 11 regions. Currently, 42% of medical/surgical beds and 50% of ICU beds are available.

The North region (Region 1) is under additional COVID-19 mitigation measures from the IDPH as of Oct. 3. If Region 1 continues to report positivity rates above 8%, further mitigation efforts may be taken. To return to the standard Phase 4 restrictions, the region will need to maintain an average positivity rate of less than or equal to 6.5% over a 14-day period.

The region’s counties that are reporting the highest positivity rates are Boone (16.0%) and Winnebago (12.7%). DeKalb County’s positivity rate saw a big increase from to 8.0% to 8.7% after it turned in a single-day positivity rate of 14.7% on Oct. 17, while Whiteside County’s increased from 11.0% to 11.8%.

The North-Central region (Bureau, Fulton, Grundy, Henderson, Henry, Kendall, Knox, La Salle, Livingston, Marshall, McDonough, McLean, Mercer, Peoria, Putnam, Rock Island, Stark, Tazewell, Warren and Woodford counties) has seen seven days of positivity increases – meeting one criteria for enhanced mitigations – and two days of hospital admission increases. The region’s positivity rate remained flat at 6.9%. Currently, 42% of medical/surgical beds and 41% of ICU beds are available.

Chicago has seen nine days of positivity increases – meeting one criteria for enhanced mitigations – and five days of hospital admission increases. The region’s positivity rate increased from 6.2% to 6.7%. Currently, 25% of medical/surgical beds and 32% of ICU beds are available.

Suburban Cook County has seen eight days of positivity increases – meeting one data point for enhanced mitigations – and four days of hospital admission increases. The region’s positivity rate increased from 6.8% to 7.1%. Currently, 28% of medical/surgical beds and 32% of ICU beds are available.

To see how other regions across the state are doing, see the full IDPH dashboard online.

Newly reported deaths include:

• Boone County: 1 male 90s

• Clark County: 1 female 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 90s

• Cook County: 1 female 50s, 1 female 60s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s  

• DuPage County: 1 female 70s

• Fayette County: 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s

• Henry County: 1 female 70s, 1 female 80s

• Jo Daviess County: 1 female 80s, 1 female 90s

• Kane County: 1 male 80s

• Lake County: 1 male 40s, 1 male 60s, 1 female 90s

• Macoupin County: 1 male 80s

• Marion County: 1 male 80s

• McLean County: 1 female 90s

• Peoria County: 2 female 80s• Richland County: 1 male 80s

• Rock Island County: 1 male 70s

• Sangamon County: 3 female 80s, 2 male 80s, 1 male 90s

• Tazewell County: 1 male 50s, 1 80s

• Wayne County: 1 male 70s

• Will County: 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 female 90s

• Winnebago County: 1 male 70s, 1 male 80s    

Source: The Daily Chronicle

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