Next tier of COVID-19 vaccinations for St. Clair County scheduled to start Monday

St. Clair County will advance into 1B vaccinations starting Monday.

County residents 75 and older who registered for a vaccination will receive notifications for appointments beginning Monday, according to Emergency Management Agency Assistant Director Bryan Whitaker.

“You could be contacted by our health department. You could be contacted by St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, Memorial Hospital, or the Southern Illinois Healthcare Foundation and work with you to schedule an appointment for your vaccine as early as Monday,” Whitaker said during Thursday’s daily briefing. “They have substantially completed the 1A health care providers and we are now moving into that next, much larger group of 1B.”

A press released issued by the county health department noted people who meet 1A criteria are still eligible to receive a vaccine.

Whitaker also said Walgreens in Fairview Heights will administer vaccines starting Monday.

“Our notification portal that you signed up for does not go to the Walgreens as their company. If you want to look at Walgreens on their website, www.walgreens.com/covid19vac, you can follow and sign up for appointments that they have available on their website,” he said.

Individuals without internet access or who need help signing up for vaccine notification can call the health department at 618-825-4447 between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, according to the press release.

St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern explained the vaccination process and what will happen in the next couple stages.

“They’re basing it on the fact that the people that signed up, we know the group 75 and above more than uses up the vaccine that we have available to use right now,” he said. “So when we either get through that vaccine or we get through that age group — which shouldn’t take very long to get through, but it takes a little time to get through that many people — then we’ll move into the tier of 65 and above.

“What we’re trying to do is prioritize according to age. And the older population, traditionally, is the one that gets affected hardest by the virus. And that’s why they’re moving into the 75+ age category, which I think there were above 6,000 people that currently are signed up in our system that are meeting that above 75 category.”

St. Clair County EMA Director Herb Simmons noted, “You have to keep in mind, this is the first dose, so they have to make sure they have enough vaccine that they can count on coming in when that second dose comes in within that 21-28 days later.”

Added Kern, “But they’re rolling the vaccine out. We’re not storing the vaccine. We’re putting it in arms. And then everybody has to remember you need to get the same type of vaccine the second shot that you got the first shot.”

Tier 3 mitigations still in effect for metro-east counties

Region 4 in southwestern Illinois remains in Tier 3 mitigations — for now.

St. Clair County health officials thought the region had reached the metrics to move into Tier 2 as early as Wednesday, but publicly available data on the Illinois Department of Public Health’s website had changed by Thursday morning.

It no longer showed Region 4 as meeting the three-day 20% requirement for ICU availability. Instead, it showed the region was only on day two of 20% or above. Region 4 includes St. Clair, Madison, Bond, Clinton, Monroe, Randolph and Washington counties.

Kern explained the change Thursday.

“The state said they submitted our question to the data intel team, and this as their response ‘Thanks to your request, we found a glitch in the uptake of coding to the website, which was fixed last night. The coding change was done to comply with two changes in the metric applied to data Jan. 15 and onward.’ So what they did is they’re now looking at seven-day rolling averages instead of three-day rolling averages, and they’ve also rounded up to a 20% number for the hospitalizations, the hospital beds, so you’re better able to have a broad status.

“So, they say, the reason for the changes was to stabilize trends so they’d be less likely to be bounced into a different mitigation tier only to change back maybe a couple days or a few days later. It makes sense why they did it.”

However, the state public health department is expected to lift some restrictions in the metro-east Friday, if the region’s coronavirus metrics continued to improve.

“If the numbers remain consistent, we will be moving into Tier 2 (Friday). So we’ll be looking forward to that. That opens up gambling and some larger venues,” he said. “And then hopefully we’re on track then if we can get our positivity down below 8% for three days in a row that we can then get back to being more open. We’ll have fingers crossed. Whatever we do, let’s continue to wear the masks, wash the hands, watch the social distance. This virus has changed all of our lives.”

Simmons followed Kern and expressed exacerbation over people who still consider COVID the flu. He also said he’s lost 12 friends to the virus.

“Some people on here talking about it’s still the flu. I don’t know where you people have been living. But I can tell you, 384 people in our county — citizens — died from this virus,” he said. “You can think what you want. You can continue to wear your tin hat. You can continue to dispute what the doctors who have been on here have said. I don’t know 384 people who have died from the flu, and I’ll bet you don’t either.

“The health department, Team St. Clair, everybody that’s been doing this for 314 days is tired, we’re fatigued ... the last thing I want to hear is somebody continue to tell me this is the flu. It’s not the flu.’’

More on mitigations

The metro-east on Thursday was the last remaining region in Illinois to remain under the state’s tightest COVID-19 restrictions, known as Tier 3 mitigations. If the metro-east, or Region 4, continues to meet requirements, it will move into Tier 2.

Tier 2 still bans indoor service at bars and restaurants, but loosens restrictions on casinos, video gambling, youth sports and museums. If the region meets additional requirements, it could move into Tier 1, which allows indoor dining with the lesser of 25 patrons or 25% capacity.

Region 6 in central Illinois and Region 7 in northwestern Illinois had additional restrictions lifted.

The state lifted the indoor dining ban in six of the other regions with capacity limits and other rules still in place. There are 11 regions statewide as defined by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

A return to indoor dining has been a key prize for local restaurants who have suffered greatly since the ban returned in November, though some have ignored the restrictions altogether.

For Tier 3 restrictions to be relaxed or the region to be moved to Tier 2, the seven-county metro-east must have had a seven-day rolling average positivity rate of less than 12% for three consecutive days while also seeing at least 20% intensive care unit and medical/surgical bed availability for three consecutive days.

The metro-east’s positivity rate has been less than 12% for 11-straight days but has not been under 8% since Oct. 19. Furthermore, to move to Tier 1, a region has to meet the following metrics:

• Test positivity rate between 6.5% and 8% for three consecutive days on a seven-day average
• Staffed ICU bed availability must be at 20% or more for three consecutive days on a seven-day average
• No sustained increase in COVID patients in hospital on a seven-day average for seven of 10 days

Metro-east positivity rate rises slightly

The metro-east’s COVID-19 positivity rate rose slightly after dropping 12 consecutive days, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health data.

According to IDPH data, the region’s rolling seven-day average positivity rate was 8.4% on Thursday, up from 8.1% on Wednesday. The region also reported a daily positivity rate of 8.9% on Thursday, up from 6.0% on Wednesday.

Also Thursday, 21% of the metro-east’s intensive care unit beds were available for patient use, up from 20% on Wednesday, according to state health department data. The region’s available staffed hospital bed metrics were not available Thursday.

The new testing positivity rate is based on data recorded as of Jan. 18, and the hospital and ICU bed availability is based on data recorded as of Jan. 20. A region’s positivity rate is its percentage of positive COVID-19 tests versus the number of tests taken over a seven-day period.

Vaccinations continue in Southwest Illinois

Meanwhile, 4,390 people have received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in the metro-east’s seven counties, while a total of 23,347 shots have been administered.

Madison County has administered the most vaccines, with a total of 8,248 as of Thursday, and vaccinated the most individuals with a total of 1,677.

Here is the breakdown of vaccinations per county:

• St. Clair County has fully vaccinated 0.63% of its population
  
  
• Madison County has fully vaccinated 0.63% of its population
  
  
• Monroe County has fully vaccinated 0.42% of its population
  
  
• Washington County fully vaccinated 0.77% of its population
  
  
• Randolph County has fully vaccinated 0.98% of its population
  
  
• Bond County has fully vaccinated 0.61% of its population
  
  
• Clinton County has fully vaccinated 1.09% of its population

Vaccinations of healthcare workers and other members of the 1A vaccinations group began in mid-December and have been ongoing since. Randolph County is slated to enter 1B vaccinations this week, which include people 65 years or older, first responders and some educators.

People typically get vaccinated in the county where they live, because vaccine allocation is based in part on county population size.

The state reported Thursday roughly 0.95% of its entire population has been vaccinated, or 120,389 individuals.

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: 4,979 (+157)

New deaths: 123 (+16)

New tests: 99,036 (+12,915)

Total cases: 1,086,333

Total deaths: 18,520

Total vaccines doses administered: 537,740 (+29,008)

Total tests: 15,083,685

Hospitalizations: 3,281 (-3)

People in ICU: 662 (-60)

People on ventilators: 379 (-16)

Statewide positivity rate (from Jan. 14-20): 5.5% (-0.2%)

Thursday’s breakdown for Region 4

New cases: 374 (-104)

New deaths: 2 (no change from Wednesday) (St. Clair County reported 1 new death and Madison County reported 1 new death)

Total vaccines doses administered: 23,347 (+1,325)

Daily positivity rate (as of Monday): 8.9% (+2.9%)

Seven-day rolling average positivity rate (as of Monday): 8.4% (+0.3%)

Regional hospitalizations: 177 (+3) (provided by St. Clair County)

Regional patients on ventilators: 15 (-2) (provided by St. Clair County)

Hospital bed availability: Not available Thursday

ICU bed availability (as of Wednesday): 21% (+1.0%)

New cases from nearby counties outside Region 4 (includes Calhoun County’s data from Jan. 15-20): 105 (+33)

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

ST. CLAIR COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: 88 new positives, 1 new death, 1,385 new tests administered, 140 new recoveries, 7 additional patients hospitalized, 1 fewer patient on a ventilator

Total overall: 24,858 positives, 384 deaths, 240,584 tests administered, 22,907 recoveries, 102 patients hospitalized with 9 on ventilators

Vaccines administered: 413 doses since Wednesday, bringing the total to 7,905

Additional data: Individuals who tested positive ranged from under the age of 10 to their 90s. Of the 88 new positives, 42 individuals were under the age of 40.

Congregate living facilities: BRIA of Belleville reported 1 new case; Caseyville Nursing & Rehab reported 1 new case; Freeburg Care Center reported 1 new case; and Integrity Healthcare of Belleville repoted 1 new death.

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 8.9% (+6.0%); 7-day average — 7.0% (+0.8%)

MADISON COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: 224 new positives, 1 new death, 1,232 new tests administered, 171 new recoveries, 3 additional patients hospitalized, 1 fewer patient on a ventilator

Total overall: 24,414 positives, 410 deaths, 221,893 tests administered, 15,113 recoveries, 62 patients hospitalized with 6 on ventilators

Vaccines administered: 205 doses since Wednesday, bringing the total to 8,248

Additional data: Individuals who tested positive ranged from under the age of 10 to their 90s. Of the 224 new positives, 103 individuals were under the age of 40.

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 9.4% (-3.7%); 7-day average — 10.6% (-0.2%))

CLINTON COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: 25 new positives, 36 new recoveries

Total overall: 5,107 positives, 78 deaths, 4,652 recoveries, 5 patients hospitalized

Vaccines administered: 313 doses since Wednesday, bringing the total to 2,537

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 9.8% (+3.7%); 7-day average — 8.6% (-0.2%)

RANDOLPH COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: 8 new positives, 24 new recoveries

Total overall: 3,781 positives, 68 deaths, 3,592 recoveries, 3 hospitalizations

Vaccines administered: 169 doses since Wednesday, bringing the total to 1,841

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 0.5% (-8.2%); 7-day average — 6.2% (-1.3%)

MONROE COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: 29 new positives

Total overall: 3,628 positives, 70 deaths, 32 patients hospitalized

Vaccines administered: 52 doses since Wednesday, bringing the total to 1,489

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 16.6% (+0.7%); 7-day average — 8.6% (+0.4%)

BOND COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: No new data as of 8 p.m.

Total overall: 1,854 positives, 18 deaths, 35,835 tests administered

Vaccines administered: 108 doses since Wednesday, bringing the total to 713

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 4.6% (+4.6%); 7-day average — 8.1% (-2.4%)

WASHINGTON COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: No new data

Total overall: 1,474 positives, 23 deaths, 1,408 recoveries, 1 patients hospitalized

Vaccines administered: 65 doses since Wednesday, bringing the total to 614

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 14.6% (-1.2%); 7-day average — 13.2% (-1.8%)

MACOUPIN COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: 32 new positives, 1 new death, 24 new recoveries

Total overall: 4,111 positives, 97 deaths, 2,809 recoveries

Vaccines administered: 31 doses since Wednesday, bringing the total to 2,560

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 3.8% (-10.6%); 7-day average — 8.1% (no change from Wednesday)

JERSEY COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: No new data

Total overall: 2,242 positives, 42 deaths, 22,019 tests administered, 2,100 recoveries

Vaccines administered: 2 doses since Wednesday, bringing the total to 1,251

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 24.7% (+11.4%); 7-day average — 9.1% (+0.6%)

PERRY COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: 65 new positives, 113 new recoveries

Total overall: 2,873 positives, 52 deaths, 2,566 recoveries

Vaccines administered: 130 doses since Wednesday, bringing the total to 1,049

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 6.0% (-0.6%); 7-day average — 6.7% (-0.2%)

CALHOUN COUNTY

Thursday’s new data (includes data from Jan. 15-20): 8 new positives, 14 new recoveries

Total overall: 460 positives, 4 deaths, 438 recoveries

Vaccines administered: 0 doses since Wednesday, keeping the total at 254

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 3.19% (-7.2%); 7-day average — 8.7% (-1.7%)

Editor’s note: The number of new COVID-19 cases for ZIP codes in each county is reported on Mondays and shows the cumulative increase for the past week. 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, Worldometer coronavirus map and Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus map as of Thursday afternoon.

• Illinois: 1,086,333 cases, 18,520 deaths, 15,083,685 tests
  
  
• U.S.: 24,998,975 cases, 415,894 deaths, 14,968,716 recoveries
  
  
• World: 97,317,132 cases, 2,083,589 deaths, 69,867,134 recoveries
  
  

Testing sites in southwestern Illinois

Here are some upcoming coronavirus testing options:

• Friday, Jan. 22: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Troy United Methodist Church, 407 Edwardsville Road, Troy.
  
  
• Saturday, Jan. 23: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Madison County Health Department, 101 E. Edwardsville Road, Wood River.
• Saturday, Jan. 23: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at McKendree University - The Hett, 400 N. Alton St., Lebanon.
  
  
• Sunday, Jan. 24: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at McKendree University - The Hett, 400 N. Alton St., Lebanon.
• Sunday, Jan. 24: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at New Life in Christ Interdenominational Church, 689 Scott Troy Road, O’Fallon
• Every Tuesday and Thursday: 9-11 a.m. COVID-19 rapid testing at the Clinton County Fairgrounds, 1899 Methodist St., Carlyle.

The testing site at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center in East St. Louis has been moved to St. Clair Square mall, in the parking lot behind Dillards. It’s open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. It’s a drive-thru with four tents, allowing people to stay in their cars.

The Illinois Department of Public Health will continue to deploy mobile testing teams to locations in East St. Louis, including 4601 State St., from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Sunday and Monday. Capacity is limited, and hours of operation are subject to change based on available equipment.

Additionally, St. Clair County has a new service center at 330 W. Main St. in Belleville. Its regular hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursdays; and 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fridays.

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 January 21, 2021 at 6:16 PM.