Region 1 in Northern Illinois Warned of Increased Restrictions: Illinois public health officials this week warned that Region 1, a 10-county region in Northern Illinois (Jo Davies, Stephenson, Winnebago, Boone, Dekalb, Carrol, Ogle, Whiteside, Lee, and Crawford), could face additional restrictions unless there's an improvement in their positivity rate.  The region has continued to rise toward the 8 percent threshold, now sitting at a seven-day average of 7.5 percent.

Currently, the only region in Illinois under additional restrictions is Region 4, which is the St. louis Metro-East area of the state.  This region, however, has shown great improvement in its positivity rate, which was as high as 10 percent.  This region has brought its average down to 7.3 percent. and are hopefully headed for a removal of increased restrictions.

IDPH uses numerous indicators when determining if a county or region is experiencing stable COVID-19 activity, or if there are warning signs of increased COVID-19 risk. A county or region is considered at the warning level when at least two of the following metrics triggers a warning:

• New cases per 100,000 people. If there are more than 50 new cases per 100,000 people in the county, this triggers a warning.
• Number of deaths. This metric indicates a warning when the weekly number of deaths increases more than 20% for two consecutive weeks.
• Weekly test positivity. This metric indicates a warning when the 7-day test positivity rate rises above 8%.
• ICU availability. If there are fewer than 20% of intensive care units available in the region, this triggers a warning.
• Weekly emergency department visits. This metric indicates a warning when the weekly percent of COVID-19-like-illness emergency department visits increase by more than 20% for two consecutive weeks.
• Weekly hospital admissions. A warning is triggered when the weekly number of hospital admissions for COVID-19-like-illness increases by more than 20% for two consecutive weeks.
• Tests performed. This metric is used to provide context and indicate if more testing is needed in the county.
• Clusters. This metric looks at the percent of COVID-19 cases associated with clusters or outbreaks and is used to understand large increase in cases

Hospitalizations at Highest Since Mid-June: The Illinois Department of Public Health announced today that the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations climbed to 1,713 as of Wednesday night, the highest number since mid-June.  The number of COVID-19 patients in ICU beds as of Wednesday was 400, the highest since June 29.  Wednesday's hospitalization rate also topped the seven-day average of 1,505. However, 35% of Illinois' hospital beds and 38% of ICU beds were available as of yesterday. You can see where the various regions are at in terms of their positivity rates, hospitalizations and other metrics at this link.       

Pritzker Extends Executive Order for COVID-19 Measures: As usual, Governor Pritzker last week issued another Disaster Proclamation and Executive Order 2020 55 that extends the expiration date of most of his COVID-19 Executive Orders to October 17.   The governor’s proclamation notes that numerous counties around the state reported more than 75 cases per 100,000 people over the previous seven days.                                                              

Updated Specific State Information on COVID-19 Orders:  The American Chemistry Council (ACC) has again updated their comprehensive chart detailing state specific orders, re-opening plans, and other restrictions as well as executive orders and legislation relating to business liability.  This chart is attached to this Update.  These figures will be updated and reported here at least once a week.

Update on COVID-19 Cases: IDPH is reporting 283,885 positive cases of COVID-19 in Illinois, an average increase of 2,037 new cases per day since reported here 4 days ago on September 21.  In total, 5,363,471 tests have now been conducted in Illinois for the virus, an average increase of 55,021 tests per day since September 21.  The state’s average positivity rate over all 11 regions for the last 4 days is at 3.7%, but 3.6% for the last 7 days.

Unfortunately, IDPH is reporting a total of 8,563 deaths, an average increase of 26 per day since September 21.

You can also check where these cases are occurring at the State of Illinois COVID-19 website which also contains more information on this outbreak.

Also, IDPH has a case breakdown of the number of positive cases in Chicago and each county relative to the number of fatalities.  The IDPH website also now includes a breakdown of the cases under each zip code in the state.

For information on other states and countries, John Hopkins University has developed this website that provides invaluable resources at a one-stop location detailing testing and tracing trends, timelines of COVID-19 policies, and interactive maps.

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