Much to the dismay of many in the area, on Oct. 19 it was announced by Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) that Region 4, the Metro East Region, would be seeing additional COVID-19 mitigation restrictions for a second time. The restrictions were to go into effect on Wednesday, Oct. 28.
Region 4 (the Metro East Region which encompasses the counties of: Randolph, Monroe, St. Clair, Bond, Clinton, Madison and Washington) has had a seven day rolling average test positivity rate of 8 percent or above for three consecutive days. The sustained increases seen in both of these regions exceed the thresholds set for establishing mitigation measures under the state’s Restore Illinois Resurgence Plan.
“Over the weekend, two more regions – Region 4, Metro East, as well as Region 10, Suburban Cook County – triggered our metrics for additional mitigations, meaning that, starting Wednesday, 6 of our 11 regions will be operating under our resurgence framework,” said Pritzker. “Much like the four areas already operating under Tier One or Tier Two of the plan – northwestern Illinois, southern Illinois, and Will, Kankakee, DuPage and Kane Counties – Region 4 triggered our 8 percent positivity average threshold, the second time it has done so since mid-summer. Region 10, on the other hand, is the first region in Illinois to earn additional mitigations not because of its positivity rate alone, but because its positivity rate and its COVID-related hospitalizations have both seen a sustained increase over the last 10 days.”
For more COVID-19 updates, please see this week’s print edition.