St. Clair health officials announce 10 new COVID deaths as cases, hospitalizations drop

According to health officials during Wednesday’s weekly COVID briefing, St. Clair County reported 10 new deaths for the week of Sept. 9-15, but saw cases and hospitalizations decrease.

The deaths included a woman in her 50s, a woman in her 60s and a man in his 40s, all with underlying health conditions; and a man in his 50s, a man in his 70s, four woman in their 70s and a woman in her 80s, all with unknown health conditions, according to health officials.

Meanwhile, county officials announced 540 new COVID-19 cases for the week — down sharply from 657 the previous week — while the 10 new deaths represents an increase of six from the week of Sept. 2-8. Overall, the county now has 38,339 cases and 528 deaths since the pandemic began.

Hospitalization numbers in St. Clair County decreased from 55 last week to 46 this week, health officials reported Wednesday. The number of patients on ventilators, however, rose from three last week to eight this week.

St. Clair County health officials do continue to see high case numbers among the younger population:

• 60% of current positive cases are under 40, up from 55% last week.
• 36% of current positive cases are under 21, up from 28% last week.
• 19% of current positive cases are under 10, up from 14% last week.

”So, again, we’re seeing that age shift to the younger age groups,” St. Clair County Health Department Director Myla Blandford said during Wednesday’s briefing. “And the American Association of Pediatrics has announced that there’s been about a 240% increase in pediactric cases since July across the nation. It’s not only here, but across the nation we’re seeing those increases.”

Blandford further explained that approximately 81% of the variants reported to her department are of the delta variant, and about 18% of the alpha variant.

As of Wednesday, nearby Madison County reported 679 new cases from Sept. 9-15, a slight decrease from the 678 cases the health department reported from Sept. 2-8. Additionally, the county reported three new deaths from Sept. 9-15, the same as the previous week.

Overall, as of Tuesday’s data, Madison County had reported 36,982 cases and 564 deaths since the pandemic began.

The Madison County Health Department on Tuesday also reported 46 patients hospitalized due to COVID, up from 44 last week. Also on Wednesday, the county reported nine people on ventilators, the same as last week.

St. Clair County and Madison County are part of what the Illinois Department of Public Health classifies as Region 4, which also includes Bond, Clinton, Monroe, Randolph, and Washington counties.

Regionally, the number of patients hospitalized dropped from 121 last week to 112 this week, county officials reported Wednesday. The number of people on a ventilator rose from 13 last week to 15 this week.

Booster update

Blandford also addressed booster shots, which could be approved as early as Sept. 20 for the entire population.

Regarding the Johnson & Johnson booster, Blandford said, “Right now, there’s not as much data on J&J. As you remember, J&J was released later in the spring, so there will be more information to come on that particular vaccine.”

COVID still hitting unvaccinated people hardest

The latest data from local medical facilities continues to show unvaccinated individuals stand a higher chance of being hospitalized than vaccinated people if they catch the COVID-19 virus.

During Wednesday’s weekly COVID-19 briefing, St. Clair County Health Department Director Myla Blandford again presented a joint graphic from Touchette Regional Hospital, Memorial Hospital and HSHS St. Elizabeth’s hospital breaking down overall hospitalizations, ICU patients and those on ventilators among vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

Here are the results:

• Hospitalizations: 46 people total hospitalized, with 40 of them unvaccinated. Last week, 55 people were hospitalized with 51 of them unvaccinated.
• ICU: 13 individuals total in the ICU, with 11 of them unvaccinated. Last week, 12 people were in the ICU with 10 of them unvaccinated.
• Ventilators: Eight people on ventilators, all of them unvaccinated. Last week, three people were on ventilators with two of them unvaccinated.

This story was originally published September 15, 2021 at 5:35 PM.