COVID cases continue to climb among the unvaccinated of southwest Illinois
COVID-19 positivity rates continue to rise at an alarming rate for Region 4 counties in southwestern Illinois.
One month ago, the metro-east’s seven-day positivity rate stood at 2.5%, but, according to data released Wednesday by the Illinois Department of Public Health, that figure currently is at 7.7%.
During a weekly briefing on the virus in St. Clair County, ICU Medical Director Dr. Jiggar Hindia told county officials the local hospitals are currently seeing another surge of hospitalizations due to COVID-19. He said 98% of COVID-19 patients who come to Memorial Hospital have not been vaccinated.
“The end of April, May, June we were seeing less numbers. Now what we’re seeing now over the past couple of weeks is are recurrence of positive cases,” he said. “This disease at this point is largely preventable and it is a shame that we have people who are coming back in that didn’t get vaccinated and unfortunately got ill.”
Hindia added the majority of new patients are people who deny that COVID-19 is real and people who believe getting vaccinated is harmful.
“The numbers themselves don’t lie,” he said. “As a population, the vaccine is far more effective and has far fewer side effects than COVID does.”
On Tuesday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker told Fox 32 Chicago he hasn’t ruled out another shutdown due to the rise of COVID-19. He said he is watching closely the counties that border Missouri, which currently has the highest growth of new COVID-19 infections in the country.
“Missouri is … the worst state in the nation right now and it’s right on our border,” Pritzker told the news station. “And (COVID-19) is pouring over, unfortunately, across the border into metro east and southern Illinois.”
Dr. Clay Dunagan, acting head of the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force, attributed a spike in cases to a low vaccination rate, the delta variant, and the easing of masking and social distancing.
St. Louis County has had a 28.6% increase in cases in the past seven days compared to the previous week, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. The City of St. Louis has seen a 40.8% increase in cases in the past seven days.
Meanwhile, St. Clair County on Wednesday reported its 7-day rate at 9.1%, the highest the rate has been since Jan. 15. By contrast, just one month ago, the rate stood at 2.6%.
Madison County reported a rate of 8.9% on Wednesday, up from 2.1% 30 days ago.
Only two ZIP codes in the St. Clair County didn’t report at least one case of COVID-19 in the past week, St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern said during the weekly briefing.
“The virus has come back much more than it was for a while,” Kern said. “The numbers were down for a while and now they’re back up.”
Besides Madison and St. Clair counties, Region 4 consists of Bond County, Clinton County, Monroe County, Randolph County (4%) and Washington County (8.7%). Of those counties, Clinton (4.7%) and Monroe (7.4%) reported 7-day positivity rates in double figures while Bond came in at 3.5%, Randolph at 6.7% and Washington and 6.3%, according to data released Wednesday.
The availability of intensive care unit beds remains steady for Region 4 counties at 33%, up from 32% one month ago.
The surge of the delta variant of COVID-19 appears to be the root of the rising cases. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infection Disease, recently described the delta variant as the “greatest threat” to the effort of stopping COVID-19.
The variant was first detected in India late last year and is 50% to 60% more transmissible than the alpha strain of the virus. States with below-average vaccination rates have almost triple the rate of new COVID-19 cases compared to states with above-average vaccination rates, according to new data from Johns Hopkins University.
Meanwhile, slightly more than 50% of Illinois residents — or more than 6.3 million people — have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. In St. Clair County, the percentage of the population that has been fully vaccinated is 41.48%. In Madison County, that rate stands at 43.14%.
In nearby St. Louis, the city’s Pandemic Task Force is recommending the public return to wearing masks because of the surge.
The task force reported on Tuesday that in the 24 hours prior, seven people in the St. Louis area had died from COVID-19 and 91 were admitted into the ICU. Of those deaths and new patients, nearly all were unvaccinated.
Where to find the COVID vaccine in the metro-east
Local health departments and pharmacies continue to offer the shot.
In St. Clair County, the location at 330 W. Main St. in Belleville is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Friday and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. People can use the drive-up option for the Pfizer vaccine, but need an appointment for Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.
Additional options include chain stores such as Walgreens and CVS or local pharmacies like the Freeburg Pharmacy and the Smithton Pharmacy. There is walk-in availability, but appointments are recommended.
Here are some upcoming opportunities in Madison County:
- Thursday, July 22: Gateway Convention Center, 1 Gateway Drive in Collinsville at the west entrance. Visit madisonchd.org to make an appointment.
- Thursday, July 29: Madison County Health Department, 101 E. Edwardsville Road in Wood River. Visit madisonchd.org to make an appointment.
Amy Yeager, director of community health public information officer for the Madison County Health Department, said recently all the pharmacies in the county, specifically all the Walgreens and CVS locations, are giving the vaccine as well.
She also recommended calling local pediatrician offices.
“A lot of the pediatrician offices in our county have the vaccine,” Yeager said. “A lot of them are giving the vaccine to people who aren’t even their patients.”
This story was originally published July 21, 2021 at 4:07 PM.