Illinois reports 3 COVID deaths in St. Clair County. See latest CDC community levels
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rated 14 counties at a medium COVID-19 community level in its Thursday update and put zero counties at a high level for the second consecutive week.
Medium level counties include Pike, Adams, Henderson, Fayette, Effingham, Ford, Lee, Ogle, Jo Daviess, Stephenson, Winnebago, Boone, Wabash and Pope.
The CDC’s COVID-19 community levels are updated Thursdays and based on metrics from the past seven days, including new hospital admissions per 100,000 people, average percent of staffed, inpatient beds occupied by COVID patients and new cases per 100,000 people.
The agency advises people in high community level areas to wear a mask indoors and on public transportation, and people at a higher risk of severe illness should consider precautions in medium level areas.
Vaccination in Illinois
Illinois health officials have administered more than 637,000 bivalent booster shots since early September, according to an Oct. 7 emailed statement from the state’s department of public health.
“With fall underway, it’s vitally important for everyone to protect themselves from both COVID-19 and the flu,” Illinois Department of Public Health Director Sameer Vohra said in the statement. “We now have two powerful tools readily available to keep us safe, healthy, and protected during the fall and winter respiratory virus season. The new COVID-19 bivalent vaccines are designed to offer extra protection against the now-dominant Omicron strain of the virus.”
Providers have administered an average of 20,000 bivalent vaccines per day over the last week, IDPH reported, more than double the daily average for all COVID-19 vaccinations for most of the summer.
You can search online at vaccines.gov to locate a pharmacy near you that’s offering bivalent booster shots.
COVID-19 in St. Clair County and across Illinois
IDPH has reported 11,447 new COVID-19 cases since Sept. 30, about 500 more new cases than were recorded in the previous week.
The statewide daily case rate is 12.8 per 100,000 people, according to IDPH, and 20% of the state’s intensive care unit beds are available. The seven-day rolling number of hospital admissions is 80, up slightly from 78 last week.
IDPH reported 62 weekly deaths across the state, including three in St. Clair County.
St. Clair County’s daily case rate is 10.1 per 100,000 people, IDPH reported, and 22% of the county’s ICU beds are available. The seven-day rolling number of hospital admissions in St. Clair County is one.
The CDC reported St. Clair County’s weekly case rate is 69.7 per 100,000 individuals, down 23.31% from last week. There were 4.1 COVID-related hospital admissions per 100,000 county residents.
The portion of county staffed inpatient beds in use by patients with confirmed cases has increased slightly from last week, from 2.9% to 3%.
Test positivity in St. Clair County is at 3.36%, the CDC reported, and the rate of tests performed has increased by 18.68%.
As of Thursday night, IDPH reported 929 individuals were in the hospital with COVID-19, including 111 patients in ICUs and 28 people on ventilators.
You can find COVID-19 testing and vaccination information online in St. Clair County.
Note: Some CDC data, such as test positivity rates, the number of tests performed and total case rate, update on different days. IDPH data and CDC data may not update at the same time, so metrics may vary across agencies.
This story was originally published October 9, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
