St. Clair County hospitalizations for coronavirus decrease slightly from one-day high
The number of patients at St. Clair County hospitals with illnesses related to the coronavirus decreased Thursday after county officials were concerned by a high number of hospitalizations Wednesday.
The county’s four hospitals had a combined total of 62 patients, health officials said Thursday. There had been 74 patients a day earlier, which was the highest number the hospitals had reported since April 16.
The hospitals include Memorial Hospital Belleville, Memorial Hospital East in Shiloh, HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in O’Fallon and Touchette Regional Hospital in Centreville.
The county board chairman and director of the emergency management agency expressed concern during their daily Wednesday briefing on the coronavirus, because hospital admissions will help the state determine when it can relax certain coronavirus restrictions.
The Illinois Department of Public Health said via email Thursday that one county “may not have a significant impact,” because the state is considering trends in public health statistics from large regions of the state. St. Clair County is one of 27 counties in its region, covering Southern Illinois.
Hospitalizations are required to stay stable or decrease over of period of 28 days for regions to move to Phase 4 by June 26 at the earliest. A “sustained increase” in admissions could cause a region to move back a phase, with restrictions put back in place.
St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern encouraged residents to continue following safety guidelines like wearing a mask when they go out.
“I think the sad part is a lot of people feel very emboldened that maybe this is over, and it’s just not. And we want to move into Phase 4 at the end of this month,” Kern said Wednesday. “... If we don’t make these numbers go down now and not hit this spike, we’re gonna have problems getting to that June 26th date with the numbers that we need to go into Phase 4.”
