St. Clair County COVID cases rise in 26 of 27 ZIP codes. ‘These numbers are alarming.’

As COVID-19 metrics trend in the wrong direction in southwestern Illinois, St. Clair County health officials continued to sound warning bells during Wednesday’s weekly press conference.

“I’m very concerned,” said St. Clair County Health Director Myla Blandford. “As we move into fall, we know the incidents of respiratory illness will increase. We’re obviously seeing the COVID numbers go up. We’ve heard that there’s more RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) right now, which is atypical. And we don’t know what the flu is going to look like this year.

“Last year, we had a reduction of flu numbers across the board, and we don’t know if that’s going to be the case again this year. The big area of concern is the Delta variant. We know that it spreads twice as easily as some of the other variants between people.”

Health officials announced 633 new cases from the past week in St. Clair County, including four additional deaths. The county now has 33,221 cases and 490 deaths. Also, the county reported 39 COVID-related hospitalizations with two of those patients on ventilators. Meanwhile, 26 of the county’s 27 ZIP codes reported case increases from last week. The only one that did not have an increase was the Summerfield ZIP code.

“That is the total opposite of a month ago. These numbers are alarming,” St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency Director Herb Simmons said of the zip code upticks. “That’s how quick this thing is spreading again. For those of you who haven’t gotten vaccinated for whatever reason, I hope you don’t wait too long.”

St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern also stressed vaccinations, while raising the possibility of mitigations as a preventative measure.

“The numbers are not headed in the right direction,” he said. “People need to get vaccinated or we’re going to continue to have these numbers go up. Eventually, a variant is going to be created that’s going to break through in a serious way ... if that happens we’re back to where we started 502 days ago. Unless we put mitigations in place, these numbers are going to continue to go up.”

Blandford did say there has been an increase in people getting the first dose. While optimistic about that news, Kern again put the onus back on unvaccinated individuals.

“We are encouraged; Myla made the point that we’re getting a lot of first-time customers, people getting that vaccine. Maybe the information hasn’t been out, maybe it’s taken this second spike to get people to finally decide to get that vaccine,” Kern said. “We would encourage all of you who haven’t been vaccinated to get vaccinated if you can because the fate of all this is in your hands.

“The fate of how society moves forward with COVID and actually getting rid of this virus is really in the hands of people who aren’t vaccinated. Getting vaccinated is really the only way we’re going to rid ourselves of this virus.”

St. Clair County is part of what the Illinois Department of Public Health classifies as Region 4, which also includes Bond, Clinton, Madison, Monroe, Randolph,and Washington counties. Of those, Madison, Monroe and St. Clair remain on the department’s warning list.

Looking at the data more closely, one key metric is ICU bed availability, which stayed at 20% in Region 4 on Wednesday, according to data released by the IDPH. That figure stood at 33% one week ago and at 38% a month ago.

State-wide, intensive care bed usage by COVID-19 patients is up 56% from a week ago, with 184 beds in use by COVID-19 patients, including 74 on ventilators.

Positivity rate data

Positivity rate is another key metric. Here is a brief look at the the seven-day rate fluctuations for Region 4 and its counties from one week ago and one month ago, according to the most recent data released by the IDPH on Wednesday:

• Region 4: 9.1% on July 25; 7.7% on July 18; and 3.2% on June 25.
• Bond County: 6.2% on July 25; 3.5% on July 18; and 0.0% on June 25.
• Clinton County: 7.6% on July 25; 4.7% on July 18; and 1.1% on June 25.
• Madison County: 9.1% on July 25; 8.9% on July 18; and 3.4% on June 25.
• Monroe County: 13.0% on July 25; 7.4% on July 18; and 3.5% on June 25.
• Randolph County: 7.4% on July 25; 4.0% on July 18; and 0.2% on June 18.
• St. Clair County: 9.5% on July 25; 7.8% on July 18; and 3.8% on June 25.

Additionally, the state reported 2,082 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday — the most since May 7 — and the case positivity rate rose to 4% — the highest since April 19.

Vaccination data

As far as vaccines administered, per Wednesday’s data, 6,440,559 Illinois residents have been fully vaccinated, or 50.55%.

Here is the latest vaccination data from Region 4:

• Bond County: 5,779 people have been fully vaccinated, or 34.75% of the population.
• Clinton County: 37,639 people have been fully vaccinated, or 42.64% of the population.
• Madison County: 115,228 people have been fully vaccinated, or 43.57% of the population.
• Monroe County: 16,250 people have been fully vaccinated, or 47.33% of the population.
• Randolph County: 11,993 people have been fully vaccinated, or 37.35% of the population.
• St. Clair County: 109,268 people have been fully vaccinated, or 41.86% of the population.
• Washington County: 5,900 people have been fully vaccinated, or 42.16% of the population.

Overall, 302,057 metro-east residents have been fully vaccinated out of the estimated 660,225 who live in the region. That figure stood at 241,095 on June 4.

Testing options

The Illinois Department of Public Health has mobile testing teams at locations in East St. Louis, including 4601 State St., 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Sunday and Monday. Capacity is limited, and hours of operation are subject to change based on available equipment.

Another testing site is at St. Clair Square mall, in the parking lot behind Dillard’s. It is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Wednesday-Friday-Saturday. Several area pharmacies and Memorial and St. Elizabeth’s hospitals also offer testing.

In Madison County, CVS and Walgreens locations offer free testing. Touchette Regional Hospital and Southern Illinois Healthcare Foundation also offer daily testing in Wood River. Call 618-646-2596 for an appointment.

“If you’re not feeling good, go get tested,” Simmons said.

Where to find the COVID vaccine in the metro-east

Local health departments and pharmacies continue to offer the shot.

In St. Clair County, the location at 330 W. Main St. in Belleville is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Friday and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. People can use the drive-up option for the Pfizer vaccine, but need an appointment for Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

Additional options include chain stores such as Walgreens and CVS or local pharmacies like the Freeburg Pharmacy and the Smithton Pharmacy. There is walk-in availability, but appointments are recommended.

Also, New Life in Christ Church, 689 Troy-Scott Road, O’Fallon, will host the following vaccine clinic:

• Friday, July 30, and Saturday, Aug. 1: 5-8 p.m. Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson
• Friday, Aug. 20, and Saturday, Aug. 21: 5-8 p.m. Pfizer second dose.

For more information on this clinic, call 618-632-6542 or email nlreceptionist@nlicic.org.

Here is an upcoming vaccination opportunity in Madison County:

• Thursday, July 29: 3:30-7:30 p.m. Madison County Health Department, 101 E. Edwardsville Road in Wood River. Visit madisonchd.org to make an appointment.

Amy Yeager, director of community health public information officer for the Madison County Health Department, said recently all the pharmacies in the county, specifically all the Walgreens and CVS locations, are giving the vaccine as well.

She also recommended calling local pediatrician offices.

“A lot of the pediatrician offices in our county have the vaccine,” Yeager said. “A lot of them are giving the vaccine to people who aren’t even their patients.”

This story was originally published July 28, 2021 at 5:17 PM with the headline "St. Clair County COVID cases rise in 26 of 27 ZIP codes. ‘These numbers are alarming.’."