Guv cheers COVID progress in Region 7
Pritzker also monitoring college campuses, urges immediate flu shots; 30 counties on warning list
Gov. Pritzker holds a coronavirus briefing at the Thompson Center in Chicago on Thursday. (Illinois.gov)
By Ted Cox
The governor praised Will and Kankakee counties for making progress in the COVID-19 pandemic Thursday, but warned that the coronavirus remained “serious” across the state and urged Illinoisans to get a flu shot.
In a coronavirus briefing at the Thompson Center in Chicago, Gov. Pritzker said the Metro East region across the Mississippi River from St. Louis remained a problem area, with a seven-day testing positivity rate above 10 percent. But he cheered Will and Kankakee counties, Region 7 in the plan to Restore Illinois, for lowering their positivity rate below 8 percent — the level that saw stricter measures imposed two weeks ago.
“We’ve been pleased to see the beginnings of a downward trend in Region 7,” Pritzker said, while warning that it would still need to get to a 6.5 percent positivity rate to ease restrictions and restore indoor dining and bar service. “I’m hopeful that Region 7 might become a testament to the community’s ability to turn the ship around in the right direction.”
According to Pritzker, two weeks ago nine of the 11 regions designated across the state in the Restore Illinois plan were seeing rising positivity rates, but now a majority are seeing a slight decrease, with just three recording significant increases.
The state was on the alert, however, with college students returning to campus. Pritzker cited how Bradley University in Peoria had imposed a quarantine, while the return of students to Illinois State in Bloomington-Normal contributed to McLean County being placed on the Department of Public Health’s coronavirus warning list last week.
“We’re carefully watching the outbreaks we’ve seen on college campuses the last two weeks,” he said. He again praised the saliva-based test developed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which has enabled the school to set an ambitious goal to test all students and staff twice a week, but he said it could still be two months before that test can be expanded to other state universities.
Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike reported 1,953 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 Thursday, taking the statewide total to 255,643, while 28 new deaths brought the state toll to 8,242. Almost 50,000 tests conducted in a day produced a statewide seven-day positivity rate of 3.8 percent. But Ezike warned that more than 1,600 COVID patients were in hospitals, with almost 350 of those under intensive care and 140 on ventilators.
“Our hospitalizations in the state are rising, and that’s problematic,” Pritzker said. He added that those numbers were in a “decent position now,” but the increase is troubling.
After spending most of the week in the 1,000s, the number of newly confirmed cases climbed back to 2,145 on Friday, for a state total of 257,788 infections, with 32 deaths bringing the statewide toll to 8,273. Hospitalizations remained level, but the seven-day testing positivity rate inched up to 3.9 percent.
IDPH put 30 counties on a formal COVID warning list: Bond, Bureau, Cass, Clinton, Coles, Crawford, DeKalb, DuPage, Effingham, Greene, Grundy, Hancock, Henderson, Jackson, Jasper, Jersey, Lawrence, Madison, McLean, Monroe, Morgan, Pulaski, Schuyler, Shelby, Stark, St. Clair, Tazewell, Vermilion, Washington, and Williamson. That was one more than last week and a return to the level of two weeks ago. Bond, Cass, Crawford, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Hancock, Henderson, Jackson, Morgan, Schuyler, Tazewell, Vermillion, and Washington were newly added, while Boone, Cumberland, Edgar, Fayette, Henry, Jefferson, Lake, Randolph, Rock Island, Union, Wabash, Warren, and Will counties dropped off from last week.
Ezike repeated calls for Illinoisans to wear a mask. “There’s power in your face covering,” she said. “Wear a mask. It’s really that simple.”
Pritzker called on residents to get the newly released flu shot as soon as possible, after Ezike said last month, “We have not seen what flu and COVID illness look like together, and I’m sure we don’t want to.”
“It’s not too early. In fact, now is the time to do it,” Pritzker said. “It has never been more important.”