St. Clair County reports drops in deaths, hospitalizations, slight increase in cases

St. Clair County reported decreases in deaths and hospitalizations and a slight increase in cases for the week of Oct. 21-27, health officials said during Wednesday’s weekly COVID briefing.

Overall, health officials announced 218 new COVID-19 cases, down from 217 during the period of Oct. 14-20. They reported two new deaths, down from three the previous week.

Additionally, hospitalization numbers in St. Clair County decreased from 30 last week to 23 this week, health officials reported Wednesday. The number of patients on ventilators also dropped from five last week to three this week.

Overall, the county now has 40,423 cases and 558 deaths since the pandemic began. The deaths this past week included a man in his 70s and a woman in her 70s, both with underlying health conditions.

St. Clair County health officials also continue to see higher case numbers among the younger population, with increases from last week noted:

• 51% of current positive cases are under 40, up from 40% last week.
• 12% of current positive cases are under 10, up from 9% last week.
  
  

“You see a slight uptick in the numbers for those younger age groups in comparison to last week,” St. Clair County Health Department Director Myla Blandford noted during Wednesday’s weekly press conference.

While the overall data shows encouraging trends, St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency Assistant Director Bryan Whitaker continued to stress vaccination to “keep it going in that direction.”

“Vaccines are still the way for us to get through this and move past this,” he said during the briefing. “Vaccines are available six days a week here in St. Clair County. Take this opportunity, get your booster shot. If you haven’t started the process yet, get your questions answered, get down there and get that vaccine going.”

COVID still hitting unvaccinated people hardest

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

As done weekly, Blandford presented a 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: 23 people total hospitalized, with 16 of them unvaccinated. Last week, 28 people were hospitalized, with 15 of them unvaccinated.
• ICU: Five individuals total in the ICU, with all of them unvaccinated. Last week, nine people were in the ICU, with six of them unvaccinated.
• Ventilators: Three people on ventilators, with all of them unvaccinated. Last week, four people were on ventilators, with two of them unvaccinated.

Madison County, Region 4 hospital figures

Also on Wednesday, Madison County reported 294 new cases from Oct. 21-27, down from 315 cases the prior week. The county also reported a decrease in deaths from 10 the period of Oct. 14-20 to five the past week.

Overall, as of Wednesday’s data, Madison County had reported 39,799 cases and 602 deaths since the pandemic began.

The Madison County Health Department on Wednesday also reported 22 patients hospitalized due to COVID, the same as last week. Also on Wednesday, the county reported two people on ventilators, also the same as the period of Oct. 14-20.

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 decreased from 62 last week to 50 this week, county officials reported Wednesday, with the number of people on a ventilator falling from seven to five.

This story was originally published October 28, 2021 at 4:57 PM.