St. Clair County reports highest number of coronavirus hospitalizations since April
St. Clair County on Wednesday reported the highest number of patients in county hospitals for illnesses related to the coronavirus since April.
The four hospitals in the county had a total of 74 patients Wednesday, a number they last reported April 16. The hospitals include Memorial Hospital Belleville, Memorial Hospital East in Shiloh, HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in O’Fallon and Touchette Regional Hospital in Centreville.
County officials are concerned because hospitalizations are one of the governor’s benchmarks to allow regions of the state to reopen select businesses and allow more activities that had been halted to prevent the virus from spreading.
The Southern Illinois region, which includes the metro-east, moved into Phase 3 of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Restore Illinois on May 29, when retail stores and outdoor seating at restaurants opened and gatherings of 10 people or fewer were allowed again.
St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency Director Herb Simmons said during the county’s daily 3:30 p.m. coronavirus briefing Wednesday that officials had been afraid that “people were gonna let their guard down” around Memorial Day.
“These numbers are indicating that that was correct,” he said. “... We’ve said all along, (with) more testing, we expected some more positive, but our hospitalizations, that’s when it’s serious.”
The earliest Southern Illinois could move to the next phase is June 26, but hospitalizations across the 27 counties in the region are required to remain stable or decrease for a period of 28 days to do so. The Illinois Department of Public said via email Thursday that one county “may not have a significant impact on the overall region,” in response to a Belleville News-Democrat inquiry about the significance of St. Clair County’s increase.
In Phase 4, people will be able to eat inside restaurants, see a movie, go to the gym and gather in groups of up to 50 people.
Regions can also move back to a previous phase if there is a “sustained increase” in hospital admissions.
“If you don’t start taking this serious, those of you who aren’t, Phase 4 is gonna be down the road farther than June 26, and that’s what we’re all shooting for,” Simmons said.
St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern described the increase in hospitalizations as “extremely disappointing.” He encouraged St. Clair County residents to keep following safety guidelines to protect themselves from the coronavirus like wearing a face mask when they go out.
“Right now, if you go to the store, you see a limited amount of people that are still wearing masks,” Kern said during the briefing. “I think the sad part is a lot of people feel very emboldened that maybe this is over, and it’s just not. And we want to move into Phase 4 at the end of this month.
“... If we don’t make these numbers go down now and not hit this spike, we’re gonna have problems getting to that June 26th date with the numbers that we need to go into Phase 4,” Kern added.
This story was originally published June 3, 2020 at 6:25 PM.
