COVID-19 continues its pre-holidays surge in St. Clair County, metro-east

With Christmas Eve and Christmas this weekend, the omicron variant lurking and COVID-19 cases still rising, St. Clair County health officials again encouraged vigilance during Wednesday’s weekly briefing.

Specifically, St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern stressed vaccination and getting tested if experiencing symptoms.

“It’s pretty clear — not just from our numbers that we see locally but nationwide — getting vaccinated is really the key to helping to avoid serious illness should you contract COVID-19,” he said. “When you’re together on Christmas, it’s important that if you have symptoms ... it’s really hard to tell the difference between symptoms from the cold or flu or any of the strains of COVID.

“You need to realize, if you have symptoms, get tested. Find out if you have COVID so that you won’t be spreading that at a holiday event — an event with family or friends or those that are vulnerable to this illness. You need to know.”

Regarding omicron, Health Department Director Myla Blandford confirmed, as of Wednesday morning, no cases of the latest COVID variant had been reported in the county.

It has reached Illinois, however. The state reported 16,581 new cases on Wednesday, setting a new daily record for coronavirus infections. The higher numbers are partially due to more widespread screening in addition to the emergence of omicron, which is proving more contagious.

Overall, St. Clair County continued to see high COVID-19 case totals for the week of Dec. 16-22, while deaths increased and hospitalizations rose.

Health officials announced 1,050 new COVID-19 cases the past week during Wednesday’s briefing. That number is up slightly from the 1,048 cases reported the week of Dec. 9-15. It also is up from the 1,012 cases reported the week of Dec. 2-8; the 611 cases reported the week of Nov. 25-Dec. 1; the 547 cases reported the week of Nov. 18-24; and the 472 cases reported the week of Nov. 11-17.

Additionally, the county announced 10 new deaths — a woman in her 70s, a women her 80s and a man in his 80s, all with underlying health conditions; and a man in his 50s, two women in their 60s, two men in their 60s, a woman in her 70s and a woman in her 90s, all with unknown health conditions — after reporting seven new deaths from Dec. 9-15.

Hospitalization numbers in St. Clair County increased as well, from 63 last week to 66 this week, health officials reported during the weekly briefing. The number of patients on ventilators remained the same as last week at four.

Overall, the county now has 45,761 cases — including 4,740 the past six weeks — and 596 deaths since the pandemic began. Meanwhile, 26 of the county’s 27 ZIP codes reported case increases from last week.

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

• 64% of current positive cases are under 40, up from 59% last week.
• 33% of current positive cases are under 20, up from 29% last week.
• 18% of current positive cases are under 10, up from 14.5% last week.

“Still high numbers in our younger age populations. So we definitely still have to keep working on bringing these numbers down,” St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency Assistant Director Bryan Whitaker said during the briefing.

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.

Whitaker presented the weekly 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: 66 people total hospitalized, with 53 of them unvaccinated. Last week, 63 people were hospitalized, with 49 of them unvaccinated.
• ICU: 11 individuals total in the ICU, with seven of them unvaccinated. Last week, 14 people were in the ICU, with 13 of them unvaccinated.
• Ventilators: Four individuals total on a ventilator, with three of them unvaccinated. Last week, four patients were on a ventilator, with all of them unvaccinated.

“If you do have COVID, you need to isolate,” Kern said. “You really need to isolate or protect yourself because you don’t want people to get sick no matter what you have. But with COVID, it is extra serious, because people are in the ICU right now, people are on ventilators right now because of COVID. These are situations we must avoid in this county.”

Madison County, Region 4 hospital figures

Since last reporting data for Madison County on Dec. 15, the latest figures show an increase of 1,329 cases and six new deaths from the past week.

Overall, as of Wednesday, Madison County had reported 45,713 new cases and 641 deaths since the pandemic began.

Also, the Madison County Health Department on Wednesday reported 69 patients hospitalized and nine people on ventilators. The hospitalization numbers rose from 60 since the BND last reported Madison County’s data Dec. 15, while the number of people on ventilators increased from eight to nine.

Of note, the health department recently announced on its Facebook page it will provide data updates Mondays-Fridays moving forward.

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 again increased, from 144 last week to 160 this week, county officials reported Wednesday, with the number of people on a ventilator remaining at 14 this week.

Where to get vaccinated in St. Clair County

The St. Clair County Health Department’s location at 330 W. Main St. remains open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Friday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays for vaccinations.

All three vaccines — Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna — are offered every day there for anyone 12 and older. Appointments are recommended but not required. Flu vaccines also are now available at this location. People can schedule an appointment at www.co.st-clair.il.us/departments/health-department or by phone at 618-233-7703.

Blandford noted recently staff members at that location can assist people with any questions.

Additionally, the health department is now offering Pfizer vaccine clinics for children age 5-11 at the department headquarters, 19 Public Square, Belleville.

The clinics take place in the evenings Monday-Wednesday and some select Saturdays, Blandford noted. People should call 618-825-4447 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday to make an appointment or visit https://www.co.st-clair.il.us/departments/health-department to register. Appointments are required. People also can receive their flu vaccine here.

Various pediatric physician offices, Walgreens and CVS are offering the shots for young people, health officials said recently.