St. Clair County’s COVID positivity rate hits record high. Cases, hospitalizations surge

As the COVID-19 positivity rate hit a record high in St. Clair County, health officials continue to implore people to get vaccinated.

County health officials reported a positivity rate of 25.9% during Wednesday’s weekly briefing, by far the highest since the Illinois Department of Public Health first started tracking data in June 2020. The county’s previous high was 15.8% on Dec. 7, 2020.

“If you have not been vaccinated, get vaccinated,” St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern said during Wednesday’s briefing. “There’s a huge number of people who can get out there, get this vaccine in their system. It helps you. It will make it less of a chance you’ll be in the hospital, less of a chance you’ll be in the ICU and less of a chance you’ll be on a ventilator. The power is in your hands.”

Overall, according to the data the Illinois Department of Public Health reported as of Wednesday, a little more than 53% (138,465) of St. Clair County residents are fully vaccinated and nearly 59% (153,872) have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

“Everybody has to take that responsibility,” St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency Director Herb Simmons said. “The one thing that we can sit here today and tell you is the best tool that we have in our tool box is the vaccine and to get tested. Everybody, please, if you haven’t been vaccinated, consider doing so. Thank you.”

Simmons continued, drawing a parallel to getting the vaccine and going to the drug store for doctor-prescribed medication.

“That’s always amazed me,” Simmons said. “We’ll run to the doctor for this or that and they put us on medication and we run to the drug store and get the medicine. But when the doctor says go get the vaccine, ‘Oh, I’ve got to go research it and see if he’s right.’ Follow your medical provider’s advice and you won’t go wrong and you’ll be helping be a part of the solution.”

St. Clair County COVID data

Overall, as noted, St. Clair County continued to see high COVID-19 case totals for the week of Dec. 30-Jan. 5, while deaths increased sharply and hospitalizations continued to spike.

Health officials announced 4,249 new COVID-19 cases the past week in St. Clair County. That number is up significantly from the 1,552 cases reported the week of Dec. 23-29; the 1,050 cases reported the week of Dec. 16-22; and the 1,048 cases reported the week of Dec. 9-15.

Additionally, the county announced 11 new deaths — a woman in her 60s, a man in his 60s and a man in his 80s, all with underlying health conditions; and a man in his 40s, a man in his 60s, a man in his 70s, two women in their 70s, two men in their 80s and a man in his 90s, all with unknown health conditions — after reporting one new death from Dec. 23-29.

“We just see it (omicron) spreading much more easily,” St. Clair County Health Department Director Myla Blandford said. “There’s some debate on the severity. The ACIP (Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices) talked today ... they were talking about it affecting the immunocompromised more severely. Those are the ones that you’re seeing hospitalized. There’s still data out there that they’re working on. I think there’s more to come in what we determine.”

Hospitalization numbers in St. Clair County increased as well, from 90 last week to 128 this week. The number of patients on ventilators also jumped from nine to 12.

“The hospitals are — I don’t want to say overwhelmed — but they certainly are full of these COVID cases now,” Kern said. “So we also need to be thinking of our doctors, our nurses, our front line workers, the dispatchers ... all of our emergency personnel are really putting in extra time.”

Overall, the county now has 51,562 cases — including 10,541 the past seven weeks — and 608 deaths since the pandemic began. Meanwhile, all 27 of the county’s ZIP codes again reported case increases from last week.

“We’ve been at this 663 days and this is the highest positivity (rate) in the county that we’ve had the entire time, even going back to the beginning when this was still a mystery to us and the numbers were growing,” Kern said. “This variant is just far more contagious. It is here. It is in the community in a big way. Let’s be extra vigilant. We’ve got to get through this.”

Added Simmons, “We’re back to where we were.”

Also, St. Clair County health officials continue to see high case numbers among the younger population, with decreases from last week noted:

• 59.5% of current positive cases are under 40, down from 62% last week.
• 19% of current positive cases are under 20, down from 26% last week.
• 7% of current positive cases are under 10, down from 12% last week.

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.

Blandford 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: 128 people total hospitalized, with 82 of them unvaccinated. Last week, 90 people were hospitalized, with 69 of them unvaccinated.
• ICU: 18 individuals total in the ICU, with 13 of them unvaccinated. Last week, 17 people were in the ICU, with 14 of them unvaccinated.
• Ventilators: 12 individuals total on a ventilator, with eight of them unvaccinated. Last week, nine patients were on a ventilator, with seven of them unvaccinated.

“We appreciate all those health department workers who are tirelessly working to tell people, educate people, answer questions. We want to get to the other side of this as much as anybody else does,” Blandford said.

Madison County, Region 4 hospital figures

Since last reporting data for Madison County on Dec. 29, the latest figures show an increase of 3,634 cases and five new deaths from the past week.

Overall, as of Wednesday, Madison County had reported 50,856 cases and 654 deaths since the pandemic began.

Also, the Madison County Health Department on Wednesday reported 96 patients hospitalized and 11 people on ventilators. The hospitalization numbers rose from 76 since the BND last reported Madison County’s data Dec. 29, while the number of people on ventilators decreased from 15.

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 saw another sizable increase, from 199 last week to 249 this week, county officials reported Wednesday, with the number of people on a ventilator dropping from 25 to 23.

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.

Additionally, the health department is 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.

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

Additionally, people can get tested or vaccinated at the St. Clair Square site. Previously open four days a week, the site now will be open six days a week — from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Saturday.

According to Blandford, vaccine for people 12 and older is only offered Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and all three — Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson — are available. However, the site does not provide vaccine for the 5-11 age group.

This story was originally published January 6, 2022 at 7:00 AM.