5 southern IL counties at ‘high’ COVID level, CDC data show. See where your county falls

Five southern Illinois counties moved into the “high” COVID-19 community level under Thursday’s U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention update. The revised levels comes as nearly all of Illinois remains at high rates of community transmission.

Franklin, Jackson, Williamson, Johnson and Massac counties are all scored high as of Friday, and as such federal health officials recommend masking in public, indoor places in those areas.

A slew of other counties in north and central Illinois also rank at high COVID-19 community levels, CDC data show.

St. Clair, Monroe, Randolph, Madison and Bond counties remained at medium. Clinton and Washington are scored low.

Friday, all but eight of Illinois’ 102 counties were at high COVID-19 transmission levels – a separate metric from the community levels.

Those eight include Schuyler, Moultrie, Cumberland, Hardin and Pope, all of which were at “substantial” transmission, and Jasper, Edwards and White counties, which were at “moderate” transmission.

The CDC’s COVID-19 community level is calculated on new cases per 100,000, new hospital admissions per 100,000 (both seven-day totals) and percent of allotted hospital beds occupied (a seven-day average.) The community transmission level, meanwhile, is calculated on new cases per 100,000 and percent of positive NAATs (nucleic acid amplification tests), both over the past seven days.

The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 267 cases per 100,000 people in the state as of Friday. The state has recorded nearly 34,000 COVID-19 deaths to date.

In a Facebook post Thursday, the St. Clair County Health Department reported 132 new cases.

You can schedule a vaccination through the health department online, as well as find testing options in the area.

The federal government has opened a third round of free at-home COVID tests. Every household in the U.S. can request at-home test kits to be mailed to your door at covid.gov/tests. You can also call 1-800-232-0233.

If you need additional tests, your insurance should cover up to eight tests per month. You can learn more about the reimbursement process for at-home tests online.

This story was originally published June 11, 2022 at 6:00 AM.