Here’s a county-by-county look at COVID-19 infection rates across southwestern Illinois

Seven-day positivity rates for southwestern Illinois counties remain high while again showing fluctuations from the past week.

Positivity rate is one key metric the Illinois Department of Public Health measures to determine whether to reinstate restrictions.

Below are some trends for Region 4 — which includes Bond, Clinton, Madison, Monroe, Randolph, St. Clair and Washington counties — from Aug. 5-11, according to data released by the state health department Wednesday.

• Region 4 as a whole reported a slight decrease in its positivity rate.
• Three counties reported double digit positivity rates, but those were below 11%.
• Clinton, Monroe and Washington counties all reported decreases, while Madison County remained the same.
• Randolph County only had a modest increase of 0.2%, while Washington County reported the biggest decrease from 16.2% to 9.2%.

Here is a more detailed look at the seven-day rate fluctuations for Region 4 counties from one week ago and one month ago, according to the most recent data released by the state health department Wednesday:

• Region 4: 10.2% on Aug. 8; 10.3% on Aug. 1; and 7.1% on July 9.
• Bond County: 10.4% on Aug. 8; 2.9% on Aug. 1; and 4.4% on July 9.
• Clinton County: 7.6% on Aug. 8; 11.5% on Aug. 1; and 2.1% on July 9.
• Madison County: 10.9% on Aug. 8; 10.9% on Aug. 1; and 7.7% on July 9.
• Monroe County: 9.8% on Aug. 8; 11.1% on Aug. 1; and 10.7% on July 9.
• Randolph County: 8.4% on Aug. 8; 8.2% on Aug. 1; and 7.6% on July 9.
• St. Clair County: 10.6% on Aug. 8; 10.2% on Aug. 1; and 7.1% on July 9.
• Washington County: 9.2% on Aug. 8; 16.2% on Aug. 1; and 5.8% on July 9.

St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency Director Herb Simmons stressed vaccinations to lower these numbers during Wednesday’s weekly press conference.

“For those of you out there that know somebody who hasn’t been vaccinated, please, I beg of you, try to convince them — family members, your neighbors, whatever it may be — because we will not get this thing back to where it was if we don’t get these numbers back going the opposite way,” he said.