‘It’s time’ for southwest IL county leaders to impose COVID restrictions, Pritzker says
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Wednesday it’s up to metro-east county elected officials to halt the spread of the coronavirus by reimposing restrictions on businesses and activities so that regional closures and other constraints are not necessary.
“If you’re a local elected official and your local numbers are rising, it’s time to step up and impose stricter mitigations,” Pritzker said at a news conference in Chicago.
Last week, Pritzker made a similar request of local leaders during a visit to Collinsville. The governor said he was working with local officials to impose their own restrictions.
Metro-east leaders have taken steps to raise awareness about the outbreak, sending letters to businesses and calling out residents for throwing parties. But none have ordered restrictions on business or activities, and Pritzker sharpened his message Wednesday.
“Residents should hold your elected leaders accountable. Demand that they take action because if they don’t, they could bring the entire region back to closed bars and closed restaurants, stricter limits on gatherings or even another stay at home order,” Pritzker said.
St. Clair County Chairman Mark Kern said in an afternoon news conference that delays in test results are making it difficult to slow the spread of COVID-19. The county set up numerous public testing sites supported by the state.
“That system that the state has put together for us is really not adequate,” Kern said. “We’ve having people that got tested almost two weeks ago that still haven’t received their results. That doesn’t do us any good, that doesn’t do the public any good. ... They may need to be quarantined and they may not know it.”
The state set up a lab at Anderson Hospital in Maryville to process test results from St. Clair County and other areas, Kern added. The sheer number of tests — St. Clair County had conducted 681 tests since Tuesday — has overwhelmed the lab.
“That’s where the lag exists,” Kern said.
The state’s public health agency defines the metro-east as St. Clair, Madison, Monroe, Randolph, Clinton, Bond and Washington counties. To avoid the entire region having to impose restrictions, the governor said leaders of counties where numbers are rising need to act.
St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency director Herb Simmons questioned how the county could implement restrictions legally.
“Everybody is looking at St. Clair County saying, ‘You’ve got to do this, you have to this down shut down, you have to do that.’ We’re waiting for the guidance from the powers that be in the state,” Simmons said. “They can tell me all day long what we need to do, but how can we do it legally?”
To evaluate the spread of coronavirus in a county or region, the state looks at the number of COVID-19 tests coming back positive, or the positivity rate. Health officials calculate the positivity rate by tracking the percentage of tests that come back positive on average over a seven-day period.
Some counties saw higher positivity rates than others, according to Illinois’ county metrics website:
- Randolph: 8.1%
- St. Clair: 7.5%
- Monroe: 6.9%
- Madison: 6.1%
- Clinton: 4.7%
- Washington: 3.2%
- Bond: 1.6%
If the metro-east sees a collective 8% positivity rate for three consecutive days, the state will impose restrictions for the entire region.
The metro-east reported a 7.6% positivity rate as of July 26, according to the most recent data available on the state’s regional metrics website. The region has seen six days of rate increases.
“Should that region continue in this direction, I’ll be making additional announcements related to the specifics of the reversal,” Pritzker said.
Counties and cities have some control over implementing their own rules based on local needs. They also have the ability to close businesses and revoke liquor licenses. But concerns about lawfulness of the orders remain. Multiple lawsuits throughout the state have challenged the legality of Pritzker’s executive orders regarding the coronavirus pandemic. Plaintiffs claim local authorities should have control.
Six regions throughout the state have also seen also increasing rates in recent days, said Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. Those regions reported an increase in the positivity rate for seven out of the past 10 days, Ezike said.
Health officials reported 1,393 new coronavirus cases statewide and 18 additional deaths for a total of 175,124 cases and 7,462 deaths since the pandemic began. The statewide positivity rate was 3.8%, and 1,491 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19, a number that has been increasing in recent days, Ezike said.
“These are clearly indicators that we are headed in the wrong direction,” Ezike said.
This story was originally published July 29, 2020 at 1:49 PM.
