Coronavirus

Case count down, positivity rate static, vaccinations rise in southwest IL counties

By Garen Vartanian

COVID-19 summary for Thursday, April 15

According to data released by the Illinois Department of Public Health on Thursday, Madison and St. Clair counties have combined to vaccinate 308,198 people and fully vaccinated 137,154 against the coronavirus.

Overall, Madison County has administered 156,997 COVID-19 vaccines and fully vaccinated 70,487 residents, while St. Clair County has administered 151,201 vaccines and fully vaccinated 66,667 individuals.

Meanwhile, the metro-east region has now fully vaccinated 169,885 people and administered at least one dose of the vaccine to 383,281 individuals.

In total, nearly 3.1 million Illinoisans have been fully vaccinated.

On Thursday, the state health department listed metro-east Region 4 as having a seven-day average positivity rate of 3.5%, the same as the previous day. The state reported a daily positivity rate of 4.5% on Thursday, down sharply from 5.7% on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, intensive care unit bed availability remained at 38% a second-straight day. This represents the highest ICU bed availability since Nov. 7 when it was at 39%.

Click to read COVID-19 updates for your county:

Thursday’s breakdown for Region 4

New cases: 91 (-1)

New deaths: 2 (+2) (Madison County reported 2 new deaths.)

Total vaccine doses administered (as of Wednesday): 383,281 (+1,968)

Daily positivity rate (as of Monday): 4.5% (-1.2)

7-day average positivity rate (as of Monday): 3.5% (no change)

Regional hospitalizations: 42 (-5) (provided by St. Clair County)

Regional patients on ventilators: 1 (no change) (provided by St. Clair County)

ICU bed availability (as of Wednesday): 38% (no change)

ST. CLAIR COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: 34 new positives, 0 new deaths, 1,293 new tests administered, 25 new recoveries, 2 new patients hospitalized

Total overall: 29,887 positives, 474 deaths, 326,486 tests administered, 29,053 recoveries, 26 patients hospitalized with 1 patient on a ventilator

Vaccines administered: 727 doses Wednesday, bringing the total to 151,201

% of population fully vaccinated: 25.54%

Additional data: People who tested positive ranged from under the age of 10 to their 80s. Of the 34 new positives, 23 were under the age of 40.

Congregate living facilities: Bradford Place in Swansea reported 1 new case.

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 2.8% (-4.2); 7-day average — 3.1% (-0.1)

MADISON COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: 49 new positives, 2 new deaths, 1,246 new tests administered, 24 new recoveries, 6 fewer patients hospitalized

Total overall: 29,239 positives, 490 deaths, 297,045 tests administered, 28,931 recoveries, 12 patients hospitalized with 0 patients on a ventilator

Vaccines administered: 614 doses Wednesday, bringing the total to 156,997

% of population fully vaccinated: 26.65%

Additional data: People who tested positive ranged from under the age of 10 to their 80s. Of the 49 new positives, 28 were under the age of 40.

Positivity rate (as of Monday): Daily — 7.4% (+1.2); 7-day average — 5.0% (no change)

CLINTON COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: No new data

Total overall: 5,864 positives, 90 deaths, 5,584 recoveries, 0 patient hospitalized

Vaccines administered: 137 doses Wednesday, bringing the total to 22,337

% of population fully vaccinated: 26.45%

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 3.1% (+3.1); 7-day average — 1.6% (+0.2)

RANDOLPH COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: 1 new positive

Total overall: 4,106 positives, 85 deaths, 4,005 recoveries, 0 patient hospitalized

Vaccines administered: 492 doses Wednesday, bringing the total to 15,929

% of population fully vaccinated: 22.61%

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 0.0% (no change); 7-day average — 1.5% (-0.1)

MONROE COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: 3 new positives, 1 new patient hospitalized

Total overall: 4,335 positives, 105 deaths, 3 patients hospitalized

Vaccines administered: 97 doses Wednesday, bringing the total to 20,239

% of population fully vaccinated: 22.72%

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 6.0% (-0.8); 7-day average — 8.7% (-0.5)

BOND COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: 4 new positives, 198 new tests administered

Total overall: 2,118 positives, 21 deaths, 59,922 tests administered

Vaccines administered: 145 doses Wednesday, bringing the total to 8,285

% of population fully vaccinated: 22.21%

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 22.2% (+14.5); 7-day average — 1.5% (+0.3)

WASHINGTON COUNTY

Thursday’s new data: No new data

Total overall: 1,633 positives, 29 deaths, 1,609 recoveries, 0 patients hospitalized

Vaccines administered: 37 doses Wednesday, bringing the total to 8,320

% of population fully vaccinated: 28.71%

Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 3.4% (-2.2); 7-day average — 1.8% (+0.3)

Illinois reports new COVID 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 of COVID-19: 3,581 (+45)

New deaths: 40 (+9)

New COVID-19 tests: 105,661 (+47,413)

Total cases: 1,292,515

Total deaths: 21,609

Total tests: 21,477,421

Total Illinoisans fully vaccinated against COVID-19: 3,093,820 (+65,405) — or 24.28% of the population

Total vaccine doses administered: 7,612,405 (+129,755)

Hospitalizations: 2,043 (-33)

People in ICU: 468 (+15)

People on ventilators: 190 (-8)

Statewide positivity rate (from April 8-14): 4.9% (+0.7)

Nation, world COVID-19 statistics

Here are the latest available statistics from the Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus map and Worldometer as of Thursday afternoon:

  • U.S.: 32,149,223 cases, 578,092 deaths, 24,696,161 recoveries

  • World: 138,865,551 cases, 2,986,118 deaths, 111,647,082 recoveries

Testing in southwestern Illinois, change at St. Clair Square site

The Illinois Department of Public Health will continue to deploy mobile testing teams to locations in East St. Louis, including 4601 State St., 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.

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 Dillard’s. The facility previously was open daily. Now, per county health officials, it will be open Monday-Wednesday-Friday-Saturday, still from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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

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

Vaccination sites

The following locations are COVID-19 vaccination sites:

Additionally, people can now call 1-844-216-4707 to make an appointment for a COVID vaccine at any HSHS vaccine clinic.

Locally, HSHS vaccine clinics are located in O’Fallon, Edwardsville and Highland. For more information, visit www.hshs.org/vaccine.

  • O’Fallon and Edwardsville: Vaccine appointments are required. COVID vaccine appointments are available to Illinois residents who are 18 years and older. Call 1-844-216-4707 to schedule, or people can schedule online. HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital is administering a limited number of second dose vaccines through the end of April and then will pause their vaccine clinic and direct patients to HSHS Medical Group locations. HSHS Medical Group will continue to offer first and second doses at HSHS Medical Group Multispecialty Care, located at 1188 Illinois 157, Suite 100, in Edwardsville; and HSHS Medical Group Family Medicine, located at 1512 N. Green Mount Road, in O’Fallon.
  • Highland: HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital Highland is hosting their next vaccine clinic Wednesday, April 21. Vaccine appointments are required. COVID vaccine appointments are available to Illinois residents who are 18 years and older. Call 1-844-216-4707 to schedule, or people can schedule online.

COVID-19 definition key

  • Region 4: The state-defined metro-east region includes St. Clair, Madison, Clinton, Monroe, Randolph, Bond and Washington counties.
  • Daily positivity rate: The percentage of tests performed in a single day that were positive for COVID-19. Source: dph.illinois.gov/regionmetrics
  • 7-day average positivity rate: The number of positive tests in a week, divided by the total number of tests performed during the same period. It is one measure Illinois uses to determine whether restrictions should be strengthened or loosened because it gives an indication of the infection rate in a community. The state-defined target is 8% or less. Source: dph.illinois.gov/regionmetrics
  • Hospitalizations: The number of patients in the hospital who have COVID-19 or are suspected of having the disease.
  • ICU bed availability: The number of staffed intensive-care unit beds that are empty over seven days, divided by the total number of beds in the region. It is another measure the state uses to make decisions about restrictions. The state-defined target is 20% or more. Source: dph.illinois.gov/regionmetrics
  • Vaccine doses administered: The number of shots provided to individuals. Authorized COVID-19 vaccines require two shots. Source: dph.illinois.gov/covid19/vaccinedata
  • % of population vaccinated: The number of county residents who have received both shots of an authorized COVID-19 vaccine, divided by the county’s total population. Source: dph.illinois.gov/covid19/vaccinedata

This story was originally published April 15, 2021 at 4:07 PM.

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