St. Clair County reports daily record for COVID-19 cases as regional positivity rises
St. Clair County reached a new milestone Tuesday, announcing a daily record of 212 new COVID-19 cases.
That brings the county’s case total to 10,676 since the pandemic began. The previous daily high was 192 on Saturday, as the county, which reported no new deaths Tuesday, has announced 997 new cases since Nov. 5.
“Big numbers today,” St. Clair County Health Department Emergency Response Coordinator Sam Bierman said. “I don’t think in the very beginning of this response when we had our first couple positives, I don’t think any of us every thought that we’d have 212 positives in one day.”
Added St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern, “It took us weeks to get to 212. Now we’re there in one day. Bad thing. Man, if you can avoid going out and you don’t have to put yourself in a situation where someone can shed this virus onto you, try to do that. There is no COVID-free zone left in the region, in the country. COVID is everywhere.”
County health officials noted the high volume of cases involving people in their 20s or teens. That figure was 64 on Tuesday.
“Those are really high numbers,” Kern said. “It’s clear it is in the younger portion of our community.”
Bierman added the spread among younger people in their teens could be due to travel to St. Louis or to other states for sporting events.
“When you think about it, those are the kids that maybe are in school and involved in activities maybe outside the community, because some areas around here have said we’re not doing sports, we’re not doing activities over X amount of people,” Bierman said.
“But we’ve had several calls to the health department saying the person I was exposed to, they were over in St. Louis or in another state doing these activities and then they brought it back. So we’re seeing that all these extra activities might be the culprit.”
Region 4’s positivity rate continues to rise
With only days to go before a state-set deadline to get the metro-east’s positivity rate under 8% or face possible new restrictions, the rate continued to rise Tuesday, remaining above 10% for the ninth straight day.
The Illinois Department of Public Health reported Tuesday the metro-east, or Region 4 as the state refers to it, has a 12.7% positivity rate, up from 12.4% on Monday. It marked the 21st-straight day the region has been above 8%.
St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency Director Herb Simmons said, in light of the rising numbers, additional mitigations for Region 4 are inevitable.
“Region 5 went into more mitigation yesterday, so, with these numbers, it’s expected that we will be following suit,” he said. “We don’t know when. We’ll wait for IDPH to give that call to us.”
Kern echoed that sentiment.
“We continue to go up in regional positivity. All that we’re headed to is more mitigations if we don’t get these numbers down. It appears it isn’t looking likely we’ll be able to get those numbers down any time soon,” he said.
On Oct. 28, the state re-implemented tier 1 restrictions from Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Restore Illinois plan after the metro-east reported three consecutive days with an 8% positivity or higher. Currently, all 11 regions in Illinois are under tier 1 restrictions or higher.
If the positivity rate stays above 8% for the three consecutive days, additional restrictions could be imposed in the metro-east that would further restrict dining, bars and social gatherings. In order to have the restrictions lifted, the metro-east must report three consecutive days with a positivity rate of 6.5% or lower.
A region’s positivity rate is its percentage of positive COVID-19 tests versus the number of tests taken over a seven-day period. Region 4 includes St. Clair, Madison, Monroe, Bond, Washington, Clinton and Randolph counties.
Additionally, the region reported a daily positivity rate of 13.5% on Tuesday, up from 13.3% on Monday.
If the positivity rate stays above 8% for the next five days, additional restrictions could be imposed in the metro-east that would further restrict dining, bars and social gatherings.
Also, the region’s hospital bed capacity was at 28% on Tuesday, down from 30% on Monday, and its intensive care capacity was at 35% on Tuesday, down from 39% on Monday. If the availability of ICU beds in the region’s hospitals falls below 20%, new restrictions could also be enacted by the state.
Illinois reports new cases, deaths Tuesday
This information is provided by the Illinois Department of Public Health.
New cases: 12,623 (+2,413)
New deaths: 79 (+65)
New tests: 101,955 (+37,195)
Total cases: 511,183
Total deaths: 10,289
Total tests: 8,571,019
Hospitalizations: 4,742 (+333)
People in ICU: 911 (+54)
People on ventilators: 399 (+23)
Statewide positivity rate (from Nov. 3-Nov. 9): 12.0% (+6.0%)
Tuesday’s COVID-19 case breakdown for Region 4
New cases: 488 (-30)
New deaths: 2 (-2) (Madison County reported 1 new death; Clinton County reported 1 new death)
Daily positivity rate (as of Nov. 7): 13.5% (+0.2%)
Seven-day rolling average (as of Nov. 7): 12.7% (+0.3%)
Regional hospitalizations: 141 (-8)
Regional patients on ventilators: 18 (-3)
Hospital bed availability: 28% (-2.0%)
ICU bed availability: 35% (-4%)
New cases from nearby counties outside Region 4: 110
New deaths from nearby counties outside Region 4: 1
ST. CLAIR COUNTY
Tuesday’s new data: 212 new positives, 1,136 new tests administered, 98 new recoveries, 2 fewer people on ventilators
Total overall: 10,676 positives, 230 deaths, 127,480 tests administered, 9,114 recoveries, 69 patients hospitalized with 9 patients on ventilators
Positivity rates (as of Nov. 7): Daily — 12.4% (+0.9%); seven-day average — 10.1% (+0.4%)
Additional data: New positives include both males and females from below the age of 10 up into their 90s. Of the 212 new positives, 101 were individuals 40 years old or younger.
Congregate living facilities: Cedarhurst of Shiloh reported 1 new case; Esquiline Dammert Center at the Shrine in Belleville reported 1 new case; and Mercy Rehab and Care Center in Swansea reported 1 new case.
MADISON COUNTY
Tuesday’s new data: 124 new positives, 1 new death, 1,323 new tests administered, 13 new recoveries, 8 fewer hospitalizations, 1 less patient on a ventilator
Total overall: 8,921 positives, 165 deaths, 114,133 tests administered, 4,023 recoveries, 59 hospitalizations with 9 patients on ventilators
Additional data: New positives include both males and females from below the age of 10 up into their 90s. Of the 124 new positives, 58 were individuals 40 years old or younger.
Positivity rates (as of Nov. 7): Daily — 14.3% (-0.5%); seven-day average — 13.5% (+0.4%)
CLINTON COUNTY
Tuesday’s new data: 79 new positives, 1 new death, 72 new recoveries, 5 new hospitalizations
Total overall: 2,292 positives, 36 deaths, 1,834 recoveries, 12 patients hospitalized
Positivity rates (as of Nov. 7): Daily — 14.8% (-4.4%); 7-day average — 17.6% (-0.9%)
RANDOLPH COUNTY
Tuesday’s new data: 33 new positives, 86 new tests performed, 21 new recoveries, 2 new hospitalizations
Total overall: 1,639 positives, 22 deaths, 18,119 tests performed, 1,453 recoveries, 6 patients hospitalized
Positivity rates (as of Nov. 7): Daily — 6.8% (-6.4%); seven-day average — 11.2% (-0.1%)
MONROE COUNTY
Tuesday’s new data: 40 new positives, 1 new hospitalization
Total overall: 1,345 positives, 38 deaths, 11 patients hospitalized
Positivity rates as (of Nov. 7): Daily — 22.4% (+11.0%); seven-day average — 15.3% (+1.1%)
BOND COUNTY
Tuesday’s new data: No new data
Total overall: 641 positives, 10 deaths, 25,281 tests administered, 1 patient hospitalized
Positivity rates (as of Nov. 7): Daily — 11.0% (-7.3%); seven-day average — 17.1% (-1.0%)
WASHINGTON COUNTY
Tuesday’s new data: No new data
Total overall: 396 positives, 2 deaths, 343 recoveries, 19 hospitalizations
Positivity rates (as of Nov. 7): Daily — 12.5% (-0.8%); seven-day average — 15.1% (-0.2%)
MACOUPIN COUNTY
Tuesday’s new data: 64 new positives, 1 new death, 15 new recoveries
Total overall: 1,326 positives, 16 deaths, 601 recoveries
Positivity rates (as of Nov. 7): Daily — 13.2% (-3.2%); 7-day average — 12.6% (+0.5%)
JERSEY COUNTY
Tuesday’s new data: 23 new positives, 18 new recoveries, 131 new tests administered
Total overall: 787 positives, 21 deaths, 568 recoveries, 9,724 tests
Positivity rates (as of Nov. 7): Daily — 16.4% (-0.1%); seven-day average — 18.2% (+0.2%)
PERRY COUNTY
Tuesday’s new data: 18 new positives, 20 new recoveries
Total overall: 671 positives, 16 deaths, 485 recoveries
Positivity rates (as of Nov. 7): Daily — 20.0 (-8.6%); 7-day average — 22.9% (+1.8%)
CALHOUN COUNTY
Tuesday’s new data: 5 new positives, 1 new recovery
Total overall: 146 positives, 105 recoveries
Positivity rates (as of Nov. 7): Daily — 28.6% (+14.3%); 7-day average — 20.8% (-1.9%)
Editor’s Note: The zip codes for each county are reported every Monday and show how many new cases have been reported since the previous Monday. These numbers are according to some counties and IDPH’s website.
State, nation, world statistics
Here are the latest available statistics from the Illinois Department of Public Health and Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus map as of Tuesday afternoon:
- Illinois: 511,183 cases, 10,289 deaths, 8,571,019 tests
- U.S.: 10,456,335 cases, 244,856 deaths, 6,559,780 recoveries
- World: 51,600,193 cases, 1,275,142 deaths, 36,290,676 recoveries
Testing sites in southwestern Illinois
Here is a free COVID-19 testing option.
- Thursday, Nov. 12: 10 a.m. to noon and 1-3 p.m. at Scheve Park, Harnett Street and Harper Road, Mascoutah.
In addition, the Illinois Department of Public Health offers free walk-up and drive-thru COVID-19 testing seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (or until capacity limits are met each day) at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center, Argonne Drive in East St. Louis (Interstate 64 west, exit 4A).
Capacity is limited. Hours of operation are subject to change based on available equipment. For more information, visit dph.illinois.gov/testing.
Additionally, Touchette Regional Hospital and Southern Illinois Healthcare Foundation offer daily testing in Belleville and Wood River. Call 618-646-2596 for an appointment.
Get the latest news on coronavirus
BND.com will keep you updated throughout the day with information about the spread of the coronavirus in southwestern Illinois.
You can also find the most complete and up-to-date information from government sites including:
- State of Illinois’ COVID-19 page: coronavirus.illinois.gov
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/summary.html
- Federal government’s coronavirus page: cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
Who to call about mental health
Here are some resources from mental-health professionals for anyone struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic:
- Illinois Human Services Mental Health Division’s Call4Calm: Text the word “talk” to 552020 to text with a mental-health-care professional for free.
- Centerstone of Illinois Inc.: Call 618-462-2331 for virtual mental-health services.
- Chestnut Health Systems: Call 618-877-4420 for virtual mental-health services.
- Narcotics and Alcoholics Anonymous: Call 618-398-9409 or email metroeastnapr@gmail.com to learn about virtual meetings.
- Regional Disaster Mental Health Volunteer Response Team: Call a support line for health-care professionals at 618-381-5173.
Contact BND with tips, concerns, suggestions
If you have suggestions about something for the BND to cover regarding the COVID-19 pandemic or if you see a report that sounds suspicious on social media or anywhere else, please drop us a note at newsroom@bnd.com and include a link. We’ll check it out.
We’d like to hear from healthcare workers
The BND would like to speak with nurses, doctors and other health-care professionals who are on the front lines caring for patients in doctor’s offices, clinics and hospitals during this difficult time. We’re interested in hearing about your challenges and rewards, frustrations and accomplishments. How is this affecting you? Send us an email at newsroom@bnd.com.
Willing to share your COVID-19 story?
Have you recovered from coronavirus or are you in the process of recovering from COVID-19? We would like to hear from you on how you dealt with the respiratory disease. Send us an email at newsroom@bnd.com.
This story was originally published November 10, 2020 at 5:55 PM.