Coronavirus tests are key to reopening businesses. Illinois just got one step closer
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said the state reached its goal Friday of testing more than 10,000 people for coronavirus in one day, an important milestone in the process of reopening the economy.
Last week, the state had tested at most 5,660 people in the preceding 24 hours, Pritzker said at his daily media briefing in Chicago. By Wednesday this week, the state surpassed 9,000 tests.
On Friday, the state has tested 16,124 individuals for COVID-19.
Testing is critical to identifying people who need to be treated, but also to understand where the virus is circulating and how to address high levels of community transmission, said Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. Sufficient testing could prevent outbreaks from occurring.
Pritzker said testing is also essential to know when businesses can safely reopen reopening.
“Our ability to test and get results quickly is key to our ability to map the presence of this virus and to gradually reduce our mitigation measures and get more people back to work,” Pritzker said. “Testing is really key to everything, to everything else that we need to do to get Illinois moving again.”
Metro-east drive-thru testing centers, including those in East St. Louis, Belleville and Granite City, gather hundreds of specimens per day.
The state will need to not only sustain but increase the number of tests it conducts each day.
“You have to have many more tests than 10,000,” Pritzker said.
But the state is still not able to reliably test people for immunity to COVID-19, the governor added, another indicator that could help officials understand the pandemic. Available antibody tests aren’t yet proven to show whether someone has been exposed to COVID-19, he said.
“These test are not quite where they need to be to offer a true metric of immunity in Illinois,” Pritzker said.
It’s not clear how accurate or inaccurate the tests are, that is, how many false positives they show. Nor do experts know whether having COVID-19 antibodies means a person is immune to the disease, how long immunity could last, or how much exposure to the disease an immune person could tolerate.
The governor said as soon as an accurate test is available, he will push to make it available to Illinoisans.
The public health department announced 2,724 new cases of coronavirus disease Friday in Illinois, including 108 additional deaths. The department reported a total of 39,658 cases, including 1,795 deaths, in 96 counties.
Southwestern Illinois coronavirus cases by county
The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in southwestern Illinois has reached 879 as of Friday afternoon, while the number of deaths has increased to 48.
Here’s a breakdown of area coronavirus cases as of Friday afternoon:
ST. CLAIR COUNTY
362 positives, 22 deaths, 61 hospitalized, seven on ventilators, 1,496 tests administered, 55 tests pending.
ZIP codes with positive cases (ZIP codes with five or fewer cases are not reported):
- 62201 (East St. Louis, Sauget): 8
- 62203 (East St. Louis, Centreville, Washington Park, Caseyville): 11
- 62204 (East St. Louis, Washington Park, Caseyville): 9
- 62205 (East St. Louis, Alorton, Centreville): 12
- 62206 (Cahokia, Centreville, Sauget): 30
- 62207 (East St. Louis, Centreville, Alorton): 18
- 62208 (Fairview Heights, O’Fallon): 22
- 62220 (Belleville, Smithton): 30
- 62221 (Belleville, Shiloh): 31
- 62223 (Belleville, Swansea): 22
- 62226 (Belleville, Swansea, Shiloh): 52
- 62258 (Mascoutah, Fayetteville): 12
- 62269 (O’Fallon, Shiloh): 28
MADISON COUNTY
277 positives, 16 deaths, 70 hospitalized, 82 recovered
ZIP codes with positive cases:
- 62002 (Alton, East Alton, Godfrey): 39
- 62010 (Bethalto): 7
- 62024 (East Alton): 8
- 62025 (Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, Pontoon Beach, Roxana): 68
- 62095 (Wood River): 8
- 62034 (Glen Carbon): 15
- 62035 (Godfrey): 8
- 62040 (Granite City, Pontoon Beach, Madison): 39
- 62060 (Granite City, Madison, Venice): 9
- 62234 (Collinsville, Pontoon Beach, State Park Place): 19
- 62249 (Highland): 9
- 62294 (Troy): 10
CLINTON COUNTY
59 positives, 265 tests administered, four hospitalized, 15 recovered
ZIP codes with positive cases:
- 62265 (New Baden): 8
- 62801 (Centralia): 39
MONROE COUNTY
65 positives, nine deaths, seven recovered
ZIP codes with positive cases:
- 62236 (Columbia): 33
- 62298 (Waterloo): 24
WASHINGTON COUNTY
Seven positive cases
RANDOLPH COUNTY
68 positives, one death, three hospitalized, 45 recovered
ZIP code with positive cases:
- 62233 (Chester): 35
- 62278 (Red Bud): 13
- 62286 (Sparta): 7
BOND COUNTY
Four positives, 69 tests administered, three tests pending, three recovered
JERSEY COUNTY
12 positive cases, 85 tested, five recovered
ZIP code with positive cases:
- 62052 (Jerseyville): 12
MACOUPIN COUNTY
23 positives, 282 tests administered, 21 tests pending, 15 recovered
ZIP code with positive cases:
- 62069 (Mt. Olive): 6
CALHOUN COUNTY
One positive, one recovered
PERRY COUNTY
Two positive
This story was originally published April 24, 2020 at 3:23 PM.
