As vaccine arrives in St. Clair County, officials push for vigilance during holidays

While celebrating the arrival of a vaccine Thursday, St. Clair County officials again stressed caution about the upcoming Christmas holiday.

St. Clair County announced 224 new cases Thursday, bringing the total to 18,764 since the pandemic began. The county also announced one new death, bringing the total to 294. And, to avoid higher post-Christmas cases and deaths, county officials hope the community will focus on safety and COVID-19 protocols.

“It’s been a long time coming,” St. Clair County Health Department Emergency Response Coordinator Sam Bierman said of the vaccine during Thursday’s daily briefing. “We still have to keep moving forward with what we have proven works, which is wearing our mask, continuing to wash our hands and watch our distance. And I think it’s even more important now than it was before simply because one of the biggest holidays of the year is coming up, which is Christmas. Christmas is all about family and spending time together, and this year that might just look a little different.

“We are all feeling that. We are practicing what we preach. We know that this is something hard to ask families this time of year. But in the end, it will all pay off.”

St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency Director Herb Simmons seconded Bierman’s remarks.

“Even though it’s been a great day, watching those doctors and medical personnel step up and get the first vaccination here in the county, we can’t forget, as Sam said earlier, we’ve got a big holiday coming up with Christmas,” he said. “All of our guards have to be up. We have to stay vigilant to that. Here in St. Clair County, 294 people won’t have the opportunity to get this vaccine because it’s been too late for them.”

Simmons also addressed someone who questioned whether the doctors were actually getting vaccinated, while saying they hope to have one of those medical personnel on the show next week to discuss any side effects.

“Regardless of what we do there’s always the naysayer out there, somebody saying ‘how do we know they were given the shot because they were covered up,’” he said. “So ... you’re not going to rain on our parade today. We are all happy. The vaccine is here. We’ve been saying it’s coming. It’s here.

“The doctors did it today. We’ll have them come on maybe early next week and let you know if there were any side effects they experienced. Believe me, they were getting the shot. They rolled up their sleeve, which I hope all of us do when the time comes available to us.”

Added St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern, “There’s so many positives that we can focus on. Spending time with the flat earth society of people is really a waste now.”

Kern also discussed the importance of getting vaccinated.

“It’s going to be imperative that we get this immunity into our community so that we can all get back to normal, to get back to doing the things that we like to do without having to worry about contracting this virus, our loved ones contracting the virus or us giving this virus to someone,” he said.

Both Simmons and Kern pleaded with the community to support local businesses as well.

“We’ve got to continue to support our businesses. Please support your local businesses as much as you can, because they’re all suffering,” Simmons said.

Added Kern, “We encourage people to get out there and support our local businesses. This is the time of year where that they would have made a lot of their profits for the year. If you can buy certificates, if you can get out and go to the local businesses, the small businesses and support them — certainly wear your mask, watch your social distance, and wash your hands and make sure cleanliness is abided by — those are important ways to make sure that everything is going to be available once this is over.”

Metro-east’s positivity rate drops to key threshold

The metro-east reached the 12% COVID-19 test positivity rate threshold Thursday,

Region 4’s rolling seven-day average positivity rate was exactly 12%, down from 12.4% on Wednesday. The new rate is based on tests recorded as of Dec. 14. A region’s positivity rate is its percentage of positive COVID-19 tests versus the number of tests taken over a seven-day period.

“Remember, our goal is to get below 6.5%, so we have a ways to go with our regional positivity,” Kern said.

For Tier 3 mitigation metrics to be relaxed or to move to Tier 2, the region must experience a less than 12% test seven-day rolling average positivity rate for three consecutive days while also seeing 20% available intensive care unit and medical/surgical bed availability for three consecutive days.

This marks the region’s lowest positivity rate since Nov. 5 when it also was at 12%. Thursday also was the seventh consecutive day the positivity rate has fallen.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said the numbers are heading in the right direction, but stopped short of saying he’d allow regions to begin reopening even if they meet metrics. In November, the governor announced statewide restrictions would stay in place with no regional exceptions out of concerns about a surge. That policy will continue for the time being, Pritzker indicated during a news conference in Chicago.

“When you’re still talking about 8,000 plus cases in a day, that means, as you project forward, quite a number of people will still pass away as a percentage of that,” Pritzker said. “So we’re deeply concerned that we bring the numbers down to a level where we’re seeing much better numbers.”

Public health officials are still worried that holiday gatherings might reverse progress made in recent weeks. If people continue to avoid gatherings, wear masks, social distance and wash their hands frequently, Pritzker said he is hopeful the state could get to a point after the holidays when some restrictions could be lifted.

“We haven’t brought the numbers down to where we want them to be,” Pritzker said. “We need this to move downward at a continuing rate.”

Meanwhile, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported 84% of staffed hospital beds in the metro-east were in use as of Thursday, down from 84.2% Wednesday. Additionally, 18% of the metro-east’s staffed hospital beds were available for patient use, down from 22.6% on Wednesday.

“As long as that regional positivity keeps going down ... now we’ve got to work on the hospitalizations to get those two to come together,” Simmons said. “That light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter.”

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.

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 upcoming gatherings during the December holidays could lead to another spike in cases and deaths.

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.

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 14.3% on Thursday, up from 10.6% on Wednesday.

Illinois reports new cases, deaths Thursday

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: 8,828 (+1,705)

New deaths: 181 (+35)

New tests: 92,015 (-1,263)

Total cases: 879,428

Total deaths: 14,835

Total tests: 12,147,303

Hospitalizations: 4,751 (-42)

People in ICU: 1,056 (+11)

People on ventilators: 575 (-15)

Statewide positivity rate (from Dec. 10-16): 8.4% (-0.1)

Thursday’s COVID-19 breakdown for Region 4

New cases: 664 (+61)

New deaths: 9 (+5) (Randolph County reported 3 new deaths; Clinton County reported 3 new deaths; Madison County reported 2 new deaths; and St. Clair County reported 1 new death.)

Daily positivity rate (as of Monday): 14.3% (+3.7%)

Seven-day rolling average positivity rate (as of Monday): 12.0% (-0.4)

Regional hospitalizations: 226 (+2) (Provided by St. Clair County)

Regional patients on ventilators: 21 (+1) (Provided by St. Clair County)

Hospital bed availability: 16.0% (+0.2%)

ICU bed availability: 18.0% (-4.6%)

New cases from nearby counties outside Region 4: 59 (same as Wednesday)

New deaths from nearby counties outside Region 4: 4 (-2) (Macoupin County reported 3 new deaths and Perry County reported 1 new death.)

ST. CLAIR COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: 224 new positives, 1 new death, 253 new recoveries, 3,018 new tests administered 8 additional patients hospitalized, 2 fewer patients on ventilators

Total overall: 18,764 positives, 294 deaths, 18,558 tests administered, 16,390 recoveries, 108 patients hospitalized with 10 patients on ventilators

Additional data: New positives include residents who ranged in age from under 1 up to the 100s. Of the 224 new positives, 86 were individuals under the age of 40.

Congregate living facilities: Caritas Family Solutions in Belleville reported 2 new cases; Cedar Ridge Health & Rehab Center in Lebanon reported 2 new cases; Four Fountains in Belleville reported 1 new case; Lebanon Care Center reported 2 new cases; Freeburg Care Center reported 7 new cases; Mercy Rehab and Care Center in Swansea reported 3 new cases; St. Paul’s Home in Belleville reported 1 new case; and Willowcreek in Belleville reported 3 new cases.

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 12.8% (+3.0%); 7-day average — 10.4% (-0.5%)

MADISON COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: 310 new positives, 2 new deaths, 1,954 new tests administered, 119 new recoveries, 3 fewer hospitalizations, 3 additional patients on ventilators

Total overall: 18,213 positives, 329 deaths, 174,443 tests administered, 9,582 recoveries, 93 patients hospitalized with 11 patients on ventilators

Additional data: New positives include residents who ranged in age from under 9 up to the 90s. Of the 310 new positives, 133 were individuals under the age of 40.

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 14.0% (+2.3%); 7-day average — 12.6% (-0.5%)

CLINTON COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: 30 new positives, 3 new deaths, 53 new recoveries, 2 fewer patients hospitalized

Total overall: 4,070 positives, 73 deaths, 3,515 recoveries, 11 patients hospitalized

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 24.0% (+16.2%); 7-day average — 14.3% (+1.0%)

RANDOLPH COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: 53 new positives, 3 new deaths, 49 new recoveries

Total overall: 2,940 positives, 36 deaths, 2,678 recoveries, 4 patients hospitalized

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 12.1% (+4.6%); 7-day average — 11.9% (-0.3%)

MONROE COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: 47 new positives

Total overall: 2,667 positives, 56 deaths, 20 patients hospitalized

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 17.1% (+0.1%); 7-day average — 13.6% (-0.3%)

BOND COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: No new data

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

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 11.9% (+3.8%); 7-day average — 13.0% (-0.9%)

WASHINGTON COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: No new data

Total overall: 1,031 positives, 10 deaths, 864 recoveries, 6 patients hospitalized

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 24.6% (+13.5%); 7-day average — 22.9% (-0.4%)

MACOUPIN COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: 35 new positives, 3 new deaths, 38 new recoveries

Total overall: 3,081 positives, 72 deaths, 1,011 recoveries

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 8.5% (-4.8%); 7-day average — 8.4% (-0.4%)

JERSEY COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: No new data

Total overall: 1,675 positives, 24 deaths, 16,104 tests administered, 1,491 recoveries

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 13.4% (-6.8%); 7-day average — 12.1% (-0.8%)

PERRY COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: 24 new positives, 1 new death, 31 new recoveries

Total overall: 1,617 positives, 45 deaths, 1,346 recoveries

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 26.2% (+12.5%); 7-day average — 18.9% (+0.4%)

CALHOUN COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: No new data

Total overall: 362 positives, 1 death, 307 recoveries

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 11.8% (-16.8%); 7-day average — 22.1% (+0.7%)

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 Thursday afternoon:

• Illinois: 879,428 cases, 14,835 deaths, 12,147,303 tests
  
  
• U.S.: 17,392,784 cases, 314,581 deaths, 10,170,788 recoveries
  
  
• World: 74,534,747 cases, 1,655,234 deaths, 52,373,134 recoveries
  
  

Testing sites in southwestern Illinois

Here are some upcoming coronavirus testing options:

• Friday, Dec. 18: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Monroe County Annex, 901 Illinois Ave., Waterloo
• Saturday, Dec. 19: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Washington County Fairgrounds, 810 E. Holzhauer Drive, Nashville
• Saturday, Dec. 19: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Macedonia Baptist Church, 1400 E. Broadway, East St. Louis
• Sunday, Dec. 20: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at New Life in Christ Church of O’Fallon, 689 Scott Troy Road, O’Fallon
• Sunday, Dec. 20: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Madison County Health Department, 101 E. Edwardsville Road, Wood River
• Monday, Dec. 21: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Monroe County Annex, 901 Illinois Ave., Waterloo
  
  
• Wednesday, Dec. 23: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Monroe County Annex, 901 Illinois Ave., Waterloo
  
  
• Saturday, Dec. 26: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Belle-Clair Fairgrounds & Expo Center, 200 S. Belt E. #2650

• Monday, Dec. 28: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Monroe County Annex, 901 Illinois Ave., Waterloo

• Wednesday, Dec. 30: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Monroe County Annex, 901 Illinois Ave., Waterloo
  
  
• Thursday, Dec. 31: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Belle-Clair Fairgrounds & Expo Center, 200 S. Belt E. #2650
• Saturday, Jan. 2: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Belle-Clair Fairgrounds & Expo Center, 200 S. Belt E. #2650
• 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 is 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 17, 2020 at 5:17 PM.