ICU beds in southwest Illinois are nearly full of coronavirus patients, Pritzker says
As of midnight Monday, only 25 intensive care unit beds were available in the metro-east hospital region, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at his daily news briefing in Chicago.
“Twenty-five is not a big number,” Pritzker said. “What we want to be able to make sure is that we can handle a spike (in cases). That’s potentially what could occur if we reopen too fast.”
GOP lawmakers have pushed the governor for a regional reopening where coronavirus case numbers are lower.
COVID-19 patients occupied 73% of ICU beds in the region, known as the Edwardsville hospital region, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Eighty-one percent of ventilators available in the region were in use, the department reported.
The state is divided into 11 hospital regions: Rockford, Peoria, Springfield, Edwardsville, Marion, Champaign, southwest, west, northwest, and northeast Chicago suburbs, and the city of Chicago.
The number of people hospitalized statewide decreased slightly since its peak on April 19, the governor said, when 4,999 people were hospitalized with COVID-19. On Monday, there were 4,493 people hospitalized.
Likewise, 33% of ICU beds were occupied Monday compared to 40% on April 19, the governor reported.
But Pritzker reminded the public that daily data is not representative of overall trends in the virus’ spread.
“I want to remind everyone that snapshots in time alone are not enough to offer a full understanding of where we are, but together they can offer some indication of how things are trending,” the governor said.
St. Clair, Madison and Clinton counties reported a total of six new deaths in the last 24 hours. The region has had 1,411 cases and 96 deaths since the pandemic began.
Public health officials reported 2,341 new coronavirus cases statewide Monday for a total of 63,840 confirmed cases. An additional 46 deaths were reported for a total of 2,662 known fatalities from COVID-19.
SOUTHWESTERN ILLINOIS CORONAVIRUS CASES
Here’s a breakdown of the 1,377 COVID-19 cases in southwestern Illinois as of Monday. These numbers are updated by 4 p.m. daily at BND.com.
- St. Clair: 570 positives, 49 deaths, 2,345 tests administered, 35 tests pending
- Madison: 369 positives, 26 deaths, 75 hospitalizations, 102 recoveries
- Clinton: 113 positives, six deaths, 524 tests administered, 20 recoveries
- Randolph: 187 positives, two deaths, 62 recoveries
- Monroe: 74 positives, 11 deaths
- Macoupin: 32 positives, 667 tests administered, 2 tests pending, 27 recoveries
- Perry: 32 positives
- Jersey: 13 positives, one death, nine recoveries
- Washington: 14 positives, nine recoveries
- Bond: Six positives, one death, 109 tests administered, nine tests pending, three recoveries
- Calhoun: One positive, one recovery
Capitol News Illinois and reporter Hana Muslic contributed to this report.
This story was originally published May 4, 2020 at 3:05 PM.
