ICU bed availability keeping southwestern Illinois counties in Tier 2 mitigations

The intensive care unit bed availability for Region 4 remained below a crucial metric Thursday to have COVID-19 mitigations on indoor dining loosened.

The metro-east’s intensive care unit bed availability stood at 18% Thursday — the same figure as Wednesday — meaning the region hasn’t met all the metrics needed to go to the Rebuild Illinois Plan’s Tier 1 restrictions. The region is now under Tier 2 restrictions.

The metro-east’s COVID-19 seven-day average positivity rate on Thursday, however, stayed under 8% for the fourth-straight day at 7.5%, the same figure as Wednesday and the lowest since Oct. 17.

The positivity rate is another measure the state uses to determine whether virus mitigation efforts should be strengthened or loosened.

The region must meet the following metrics to move to Tier 1:

• 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 the hospital on a seven-day average for seven of 10 days

The region has had 11 straight days of COVID-19 patient decreases as of Thursday.

The metro-east officially received word it would move into Tier 2 restrictions as part of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Rebuild Illinois plan Friday. The area was the last remaining region in Illinois to remain under the state’s tightest COVID-19 restrictions.

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 4 includes St. Clair, Madison, Bond, Clinton, Monroe, Randolph and Washington counties.

The region also reported a daily positivity rate of 9.6% on Thursday, up sharply from 5.4% on Wednesday.

The new testing positivity rate is based on data recorded as of Jan. 25. 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 vaccine update

As of Thursday, 6,942 people have received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in the metro-east’s seven counties, up from 5,859 on Wednesday. Meanwhile, a total of 33,140 shots have been administered, up from 30,926 the previous day, according to data from the state health department.

St. Clair County has administered the most vaccines in the region with a total of 11,975 as of Thursday, while Madison County has fully vaccinated the most people at 2,701.

Vaccinations of healthcare workers and others in the 1A vaccinations group began in mid-December and have been ongoing since. In St. Clair County, people 75 years and up are now eligible to begin 1B vaccinations.

Vaccinations in Phase 1B will be by appointment only at some pharmacies, as well as state-run and locally-run clinics. More detailed information about locations will be announced at coronavirus.illinois.gov.

Here’s how you can let your county health department know you are interested in setting up a COVID-19 vaccine appointment when you become eligible:

• St. Clair County: Fill out the COVID-19 Notification for Vaccine Availability form online at health.co.st-clair.il.us. (If you don’t have internet access or need help signing up, call the health department at 618-825-4447.)
• Madison County: Fill out the Madison County Health Department COVID-19 Vaccine Registration Survey online at madisonchd.org.
• Clinton County: Fill out the Clinton County, IL Health Department COVID-19 Vaccine Registry online at clintoncountyhealth.com or call the health department at 618-594-6622 to be added to the vaccine waitlist. (The waitlist is currently only for residents who are 65 years old or older. You don’t need to fill out the form if you already called to get on the waitlist.)
• Monroe County: Sign up for the phone and email alert system CodeRED.
• Randolph County: Call the health department at 618-826-5007 or fill out one of the following vaccine waiting lists: Memorial Hospital COVID-19 Vaccination Sign-Up online at mhchester.com/covidvax; or Red Bud Regional Hospital’s COVID-19 Vaccine Waiting List online at redbudanytime.com. (The waitlists are currently only for residents who are 65 years old or older.)
• Bond County: Fill out the Bond County, IL Health Department COVID-19 Vaccine Registry online at bchd.us to be added to the vaccine waitlist. (The waitlist is currently only for residents who are 65 years old or older, health care workers and frontline essential workers, including teachers, first responders and grocery store employees. You do not need to fill out the form if you already called the health department to get on the waitlist.)
• Washington County: Call the health department at 618-327-3644 to be added to the vaccine waitlist. (The waitlist is currently only for residents who are 65 years old or older.)

State of Illinois vaccine update

A total of 1,293,075 doses of vaccine have been delivered to providers in Illinois as of Thursday, including Chicago. In addition, about 496,100 doses total have been allocated to the federal government’s Pharmacy Partnership Program for long-term care facilities.

This brings the total Illinois doses to 1,789,175. The state health department is currently reporting a total of 829,488 vaccines administered, including 131,284 for long-term care facilities. On Wednesday, a total of 55,865 doses were administered. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 36,728 doses.

For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.

Meanwhile, the state reported Thursday that roughly 1.40% of its entire population has been fully vaccinated, or 178,684 individuals.

Illinois announces new cases, deaths

Meanwhile, the state of Illinois announced 4,191 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, bringing the total to 1,116,372. The state health department also announced 103 additional deaths to bring the total to 19,067 since the pandemic began.

Also within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 100,119 new tests have been administered for a total of 15,733,562.

As of Wednesday, when the latest data was available, 2,802 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 567 patients were in the ICU, and 292 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.

The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total tests from Jan. 21-27 is 4.3%.

This story was originally published January 28, 2021 at 1:09 PM.