Southwestern Illinois expected to have some COVID-19 restrictions lifted Friday
The state public health department expected to lift some restrictions in the metro-east on Friday if the region’s coronavirus metrics continued to improve.
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. Region 4 includes St. Clair, Madison, Bond, Clinton, Monroe, Randolph and Washington counties.
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, but southwestern Illinois remains under Tier 3 of the state’s coronavirus mitigation plan.
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 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.
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
Local health officials thought the region had reached the metrics to move into Tier 2 as early as Wednesday, but publicly available data on IDPH’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.
IDPH did not reply to a request asking for clarification on the shift in the data.
Metro-east positivity rate rises
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.
Vaccine update
Overall, as of Thursday, 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, according to data from the IDPH.
Madison County has administered the most vaccines, with a total of 8,248 as of Thursday, and fully vaccinated the most individuals at 1,677.
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.
Meanwhile, the state reported Thursday that roughly .95% of its entire population has been fully vaccinated, or 120,944 individuals.
The IDPH also reported, as of Wednesday night, 901,025 doses of vaccine have been delivered to providers in Illinois, including those in Chicago. In addition, approximately 524,050 doses have been allocated to the federal government’s Pharmacy Partnership Program for long-term care facilities.
This brings the total Illinois doses to 1,425,075. IDPH is currently reporting a total of 572,389 vaccines administered, including 90,752 for long-term care facilities. Wednesday, a total of 34,649 doses were administered. The 7-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 22,585 doses.
State of Illinois announces new cases, deaths
Meanwhile, the state of Illinois announced 4,979 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, bringing the total to 1,086,333. The state health department also announced 123 additional deaths to bring the total to 18,520 since the pandemic began.
Also within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 99,036 new tests have been administered for a total of 15,083,685.
As of Wednesday, when the latest data was available, 3,281 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 662 patients were in the ICU, and 358 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total tests from Jan. 14-20 is 5.4%.
This story was originally published January 21, 2021 at 12:12 PM.
