St. Clair County surpasses 18,000 COVID-19 cases as southwestern IL readies for vaccine

St. Clair County eclipsed 18,000 COVID-19 cases Monday, health officials announced, as the metro-east prepares to receive its first shipment of vaccines later this week.

St. Clair now has had 18,155 cases since the pandemic began, while county officials announced two new deaths Monday, bringing the total to 292.

On the positive side, the county reported a daily positivity rate of 9.9%. Other than Dec. 8 when the county reported a daily positivity rate of 8.8%, that’s the lowest mark since 8% on Nov. 4.

“We need to keep those numbers in check,” St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern said during the daily briefing. “But our averages are heading in the right direction because of the mitigations.

“The deaths continue to rise. They continue to be at a level greater than what we had seen throughout this entire pandemic. So we need to make sure we’re all doing the right things — wearing our masks, watching our social distance and washing our hands, because we can get through this.”

Kern also noted the first vaccines were delivered to Illinois on Monday and that St. Clair County should see those distributed later this week. While optimistic about the vaccine, Kern also stressed caution.

“All these things lead us to know that this is the beginning of the end of COVID-19, but we’ve got to hang on,” he said. “We’ve got a few months — several months — that it’s going to take to get through this. So the fewer people that we can get that are not infected and certainly out of hospitals are going to be people to survive and have this only be a bitter memory for all of us.”

St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency Director Herb Simmons also expressed optimism about the vaccine, but remains leery about hospitalization numbers, people on ventilators and the upcoming Christmas holiday.

“As we’ve said for 276 days now, when a patient ends up in the hospital on a ventilator it’s really not a good outcome most of the time. We pray for each and every one of them,” Simmons said. “And we’re within 10, 11 days of Christmas coming up on us. Everybody, I know as you’re sitting around, thinking about wanting to buy gifts for the family and friends ...

“I’m telling you the best gift you can give anybody right now is no COVID, and that’s what we should be practicing and thinking about. There’s 292 of our residents here in this county who aren’t going to get those presents.”

Simmons, like Kern, implored people to remain vigilant.

“Let’s continue to be a part of the solution, keep our foot on the gas, get these numbers down,” he said. “As the chairman said, we’re going in the right direction — slowly. The vaccine arrived in Illinois today and will be here in the county hopefully later this week. That light at the end of the tunnel will continue to get brighter for us if we all work together like Team St. Clair has been doing.”

Metro-east’s positivity rate hits lowest mark since November

The region’s rolling seven-day average COVID-19 testing positivity rate was 13% on Monday, the lowest it’s been since reporting a 12.7% rate Nov. 7.

Monday’s rate is a slight decrease from 13.1% the day prior and is based on tests recorded as of Dec. 11. A region’s positivity rate is its percentage of COVID-19 tests that come back positive over a seven-day period.

The state classifies the metro-east as Region 4, which covers seven counties: St. Clair, Madison, Monroe, Bond, Washington, Clinton and Randolph. County-by-county data is available on the state health department’s website.

Additionally, the region reported a daily positivity rate of 13% on Monday, up from 12.3% on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported 85.7% of staffed hospital beds in the metro-east were in use as of Monday, a decrease from 87.2% on Sunday. Additionally, 22.0% of the metro-east’s staffed ICU beds were available for patient use Monday, up from 17.1% on Sunday.

Under rules set by the Restore Illinois plan, if a region reaches or falls below the 20% threshold, the state may impose tighter restrictions to avoid the possibility of the region running out of hospital and ICU beds.

Tier 3 restrictions went into place statewide on Friday, Nov. 20. The third tier tightens restrictions on indoor dining, bars and social gatherings while adding restrictions to casinos, retailers, video gaming and museums.

Over the past weeks, officials have warned about the possibility of the region running low on hospital and ICU beds, prompting some area hospitals to temporarily cease elective surgeries. More recently, officials have publicly worried that the Thanksgiving holiday and upcoming gatherings during the December holidays could lead to another spike in cases and deaths.

Illinois reports new cases, deaths Monday

This information is provided by the Illinois Department of Public Health. The number in parentheses shows the difference from the previous day’s increase or total.

New cases: 7,214 (-2)

New deaths: 103 (-12)

New tests: 92,256 (+26,606)

Total cases: 856,118

Total deaths: 14,394

Total tests: 11,869,088

Hospitalizations: 4,951 (-122)

People in ICU: 1,070 (-10)

People on ventilators: 621 (+9)

Statewide positivity rate (from Dec. 7-13): 8.7% (-2.1%)

Monday’s COVID-19 breakdown for Region 4

New cases (includes Friday-Saturday-Sunday data from Bond County; Saturday-Sunday data from Clinton County and Washington County; and Sunday data from Randolph County): 685

New deaths (includes Friday-Saturday-Sunday data from Bond County; and Saturday-Sunday data from Clinton County and Washington County): 22 (Madison County reported 10 new deaths; Clinton County reported 5 new deaths; St. Clair County reported 2 new deaths; Washington County reported 2 new deaths; Monroe County reported 2 new deaths; and Bond County reported 1 new death.)

Daily positivity rate (as of Friday): 13.0% (+0.7%)

Seven-day rolling average positivity rate (as of Friday): 13.0% (-0.1%)

Regional hospitalizations: 230 (+13) (Provided by St. Clair County)

Regional patients on ventilators: 22 (+7) (Provided by St. Clair County)

Hospital bed availability: 14.3% (+1.5%)

ICU bed availability: 22.0% (+4.9%)

New cases from nearby counties outside Region 4 (includes Saturday-Sunday data from Perry County and Calhoun County): 116

New deaths from nearby counties outside Region 4: 2 (Macoupin County reported 2 new deaths.)

ST. CLAIR COUNTY

Monday’s new data: 196 new positives, 2 new deaths, 1,972 new tests administered, 289 new recoveries, 2 additional patients hospitalized, 2 additional patients on ventilators

Total overall: 18,155 positives, 183,448 tests administered, 292 deaths, 15,672 recoveries, 105 patients hospitalized with 10 patients on ventilators

Additional data: New positives include residents who ranged in age from under 10 up to the 90s. Of the 196 new positives, 84 were individuals under the age of 40.

Congregate living facilities: Aperion Care Mascoutah reported 1 new case; Caseyville Nursing and Rehab reported 1 new case; Freeburg Care Center reported 3 new cases; Mercy Rehab and Care Center in Swanseas reported 4 new cases; and Willowcreek in Belleville reported 3 new cases.

Positivity rates (as of Friday): Daily — 10.6% (-0.5%); 7-day average — 12.0% (-0.7%)

ZIP codes with positives:

• 62059 (Brooklyn): 33 (+6)

• 62201 (East St. Louis): 437 (+27)

• 62203 (East St. Louis, Centreville, Washington Park, Caseyville): 453 (+29)

• 62204 (East St. Louis): 294 (+27)

• 62205 (East St. Louis, Alorton, Centreville): 449 (+35)

• 62206 (East St. Louis, Cahokia): 883 (+63)

• 62207 (East St. Louis, Centreville, Alorton): 421 (+17)

• 62208 (Fairview Heights): 1,029 (+82)

• 62220 (Belleville, Smithton): 1,254 (+130)

• 62221 (Belleville): 1,694 (+132)

• 62223 (Belleville, Swansea): 1,088 (+69)

• 62225 (Scott Air Force Base): 90 (+7)

• 62226 (Belleville, Swansea): 1,955 (+176)

• 62232 (Fairview Heights, Caseyville): 600 (+44)

• 62239 (Dupo): 267 (+20)

• 62240 (Dupo): 92 (+10)

• 62243 (Freeburg): 411 (+52)

• 62254 (Lebanon): 559 (+30)

• 62255 (Lenzburg): 47 (+5)

• 62257 (Marissa): 196 (+30)

• 62258 (Mascoutah, Fayetteville) 671 (+46)

• 62260 (Millstadt): 450 (+54)

• 62264 (New Athens): 209 (+61)

• 62269 (O’Fallon): 1,909 (+177)

• 62282 (St. Libory): 44 (+1)

• 62285 (Smithton): 354 (+28)

MADISON COUNTY

Monday’s new data: 200 new positive, 10 new deaths, 2,065 new tests administered, 198 new recoveries, 5 additional patients hospitalized

Total overall: 17,536 positives, 321 deaths, 169,803 tests administered, 9,198 recoveries, 107 patients hospitalized with 10 patients on ventilators

Additional data: New positives include residents who ranged in age from under 9 up to the 90s. Of the 200 new positives, 113 were individuals under the age of 40.

Positivity rates (as of Friday): Daily — 17.0% (+4.3); 7-day average — 13.4% (+0.3%)

ZIP codes with positives:

• 62040 (Granite City, Pontoon Beach): 2,493 (+257)
• 62025 (Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, Pontoon Beach, Roxana): 2,095 (+200)
• 62002 (Alton, East Alton, Godfrey): 2,150 (+220)
• 62234 (Collinsville, Pontoon Beach, State Park Place): 1,804 (+217)
• 62035 (Godfrey): 1,269 (+109)
• 62249 (Highland): 1,225 (+102)
• 62294 (Troy): 1,040 (+125)
• 62034 (Glen Carbon): 862 (+86)
• 62010 (Bethalto): 831 (+97)
• 62095 (Wood River): 633 (+87)
• 62062 (Maryville): 625 (+101)
• 62024 (East Alton): 540 (+72)
• 62060 (Granite City, Madison, Venice): 252 (+28)
• 62281 (St. Jacob): 232 (+58)
• 62018 (Alton, Bethalto, East Alton): 176 (+20)
• 62067 (Moro): 176
• 62097 (Prairietown, Worden): 170 (+27)
• 62001 (Kaufman, Alhambra): 126 (+18)
• 62061 (Marine): 120 (+16)
• 62084 (Edwardsville, Wood River, Pontoon Beach, Roxana, South Roxana): 92 (+12)
• 62087 (Edwardsville, Roxana, South Roxana, Hartford): 97 (+21)
• 62048 (Edwardsville, Granite City, Roxana, Hartford): 81 (+8)
• 62090 (Madison, Venice): 65 (+7)
• 62046 (Hamel): 72 (+17)
• 62275 (Pocahontas, Old Ripley, Jamestown): 44 (+4)
• 62012 (Godfrey): 38 (+1)
• 62021 (Dorsey): 49 (+14)
• 62074 (New Douglas): 49 (+16)
• 62293: (St. Morgan): 21
• 62088 (Staunton, Livingston, Williamson): 28 (+3)
• 62058 (Livingston): 26 (+5)
• 62201: (Fairmont City, Madison): 9

CLINTON COUNTY

Monday’s new data (Saturday-Sunday data): 72 new positives, 5 new deaths, 88 new recoveries, 3 fewer patients hospitalized

Total overall: 3,926 positives, 68 deaths, 3,371 recoveries, 13 patients hospitalized

Positivity rates (as of Friday): Daily — 12.4% (-1.1); 7-day average — 13.2% (+0.5)

ZIP codes with positives:

• 62215 (Albers, Damiansville): 188 (+20)

• 62216 (Aviston): 425 (+15)

• 62218 (Bartelso): 156 (+16)

• 62230 (Breese): 805 (+34)

• 62231 (Carlyle): 757 (+62)

• 62245 (Germantown): 171 (+9)

• 62265 (New Baden): 352 (+34)

• 62293 (Trenton): 376 (+31)

• 62801 (Centralia): 1,782 (+156)

RANDOLPH COUNTY

Monday’s new data (includes Sunday data): 50 new positives, 99 new recoveries, 2 fewer patients hospitalized

Total overall: 2,826 positives, 33 deaths, 2,566 recoveries, 3 patients hospitalized

Positivity rates (as of Friday): Daily — 8.3% (-0.2); 7-day average — 14.5% (-0.5)

ZIP codes with positives:

• 62217 (Baldwin): 54 (+8)
• 62233 (Chester): 738 (+44)
• 62237 (Coulterville): 230 (+36)
• 62241 (Ellis Grove): 87 (+4)
• 62242 (Evansville): 93 (+9)
• 62272 (Percy): 161 (+10)
• 62277 (Prairie Du Rocher): 87 (+6)
• 62278 (Red Bud): 668 (+88)
• 62286 (Sparta): 478 (+49)
• 62288 (Steeleville): 304 (+14)
• 62292 (Tilden): 36 (+18)
• 62297 (Walsh): 27 (-2)
• 62916 (Campbell Hill): 62 (+8)

MONROE COUNTY

Monday’s new data: 20 new positives, 2 new deaths

Total overall: 2,601 positives, 53 deaths, 17 patients hospitalized

Positivity rates (as of Friday): Daily — 17.0% (+1.8); 7-day average — 13.6% (-0.1%)

ZIP codes with positives:

• 62236 (Columbia): 1,046 (+101)
• 62244 (Fults): 65 (+3)
• 62295 (Valmeyer): 95 (+12)
• 62298 (Waterloo): 1,2,94 (+99)

BOND COUNTY

Monday’s new data (includes Friday-Saturday-Sunday data): 91 new positives, 1 new death

Total overall: 1,197 positives, 14 deaths, 32,210 tests administered

Positivity rates (as of Friday): Daily — 10.0% (-3.8%); 7-day average — 12.7% (+0.9)

ZIP codes with positives:

• 62086 (Sorento): 81 (+5)

• 62246 (Greenville): 830 (+88)

• 62262 (Mulberry Grove): 156 (+18)

• 62275 (Pocahontas, Old Ripley): 253 (+20)

WASHINGTON COUNTY

Monday’s new data (includes Saturday-Sunday data): 28 new positives, 2 new deaths, 29 new recoveries,

Total overall: 983 positives, 8 deaths, 809 recoveries, 5 patients hospitalized

Positivity rates (as of Friday): Daily — 23.2% (-4.0%); 7-day average — 21.5% (+0.5)

ZIP codes with positives:

• 62214 (Venedy, Addieville): 84 (+13)
• 62263 (Nashville, New Minden): 412 (+76)
• 62268 (Oakdale): 36 (+7)
• 62271 (Okawville): 130 (+11)
• 62808 (Ashley): 88 (+5)
• 62848 (Irvington): 46 (+3)

MACOUPIN COUNTY

Monday’s new data: 43 new positives, 2 new deaths, 15 new recoveries

Total overall: 2,958 positives, 63 deaths, 918 recoveries

Positivity rates (as of Friday): Daily — 10.9% (+1.4%); 7-day average — 10.3% (+1.0%)

ZIP codes with positives:

• 62009 (Benld, Sawyerville, Mount Clare): 79 (+13)
• 62012 (Brighton): 461 (+27)
• 62014 (Bunker Hill): 184 (+28)

• 62033 (Gillespie): 320 (+31)

• 62063 (Medora, Summerville, Kemper, Rockbridge): 84 (+21)

• 62069 (Mount Olive): 159 (+21)

• 62088 (Staunton): 370 (+40)
• 62626 (Carlinville): 647 (+33)
• 62640 (Girard): 146 (+16)
• 62674 (Palmyra, Barr): 49 (+8)
• 62685 (Royal Lakes, Plainview, Shipman): 127 (+16)
  
  
• 62690 (Virden): 273 (+15)

JERSEY COUNTY

Monday’s new data: No new data

Total overall: 1,623 positives, 23 deaths, 15,762 tests administered, 1,418 recoveries

Positivity rates (as of Friday): Daily — 11.9% (-1.9%); 7-day average — 14.9% (+0.6%)

ZIP codes with positives:

• 62022 (Newbern): 84 (+7)
• 62028 (Elsah): 21 (+3)
• 62031 (Fieldon): 69 (+2)
• 62037 (Grafton): 148 (+6)
• 62052 (Jerseyville): 1,048 (+111)

PERRY COUNTY

Monday’s new data (includes Saturday-Sunday data): 66 new positives, 96 new recoveries

Total overall: 1,543 positives, 37 deaths, 1,211 recoveries

Positivity rates (as of Friday): Daily — 26.5% (+9.7%); 7-day average — 17.5% (+0.8%)

ZIP codes with positives:

• 62238 (Cutler): 47 (+7)
• 62274 (Pinckneyville): 448 (+59)
• 62832 (Du Quoin): 714 (+90)
• 62888 (Tamaroa): 111 (+7)
• 62997 (Willisville): 33 (+3)

CALHOUN COUNTY

Monday’s new data (includes Saturday-Sunday data): 7 new positives, 9 new recoveries

Total overall: 355 positives, 1 death, 288 recoveries

Positivity rates (as of Friday): Daily — 20.7% (+13.9%); 7-day average — 20.8% (+6.6%)

ZIP codes with positives:

• 62036 (Golden Eagle): 51 (+1)
• 62047 (Hardin): 124 (+29)

Editor’s note: The number of new COVID-19 cases for ZIP codes in each county are reported on Mondays. Information comes from county sources and the IDPH website.

State, nation, world COVID-19 statistics

Here are the latest available statistics from the Illinois Department of Public Health and Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus map as of Monday afternoon:

• Illinois: 856,118 cases, 14,394 deaths, 11,869,088 tests
  
  
• U.S.: 16,741,470 cases, 306,464 deaths, 9,725,908 recoveries
  
  
• World: 72,778,115 cases, 1,621,259 deaths, 51,003,309 recoveries
  
  

Testing sites in southwestern Illinois

Here are some upcoming coronavirus testing options:

• Tuesday, Dec. 15, and Wednesday, Dec. 16: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Troy United Methodist Church, 407 Edwardsville Road, Troy
• Sunday, Dec. 20: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. New Life in Christ Church of O’Fallon, 689 Scott Troy Rd #1907, Lebanon
• Every Tuesday and Thursday: 9-11 a.m. COVID-19 rapid testing at the Clinton County Fairgrounds, 1899 Methodist St., Carlyle

In addition, the testing site at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center in East St. Louis has been moved to the St. Clair Square Mall behind Dillards. It is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

St. Clair County Health Department Executive Director Barb Hohlt said it will be a four-tent drive-thru where people can stay in their cars. It will continue to serve as a COVID testing site and will also be a vaccine site once that’s available to the general public, she said.

The Illinois Department of Public Health will continue to deploy mobile testing teams to locations in East St. Louis, including to 4601 State St., from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Sunday and Monday.

Capacity is limited. Hours of operation are subject to change based on available equipment. For more information, visit.

Touchette Regional Hospital and Southern Illinois Healthcare Foundation also offer daily testing in Belleville and Wood River. Call 618-646-2596 for an appointment.

This story was originally published December 14, 2020 at 4:59 PM.