Coronavirus Positivity Rate In Cook County Suburbs Rises To 6.3%

COOK COUNTY, IL — Coronavirus positivity rates rose sharply throughout Illinois in the second week of October, putting most of the state's 11 COVID-19 resurgence mitigation regions at risk of new restrictions by the end of the month if the current trend continues.

In suburban Cook County, or Region 10, the positivity rate rose to 6.3 percent Tuesday, up by 1.3 percentage points during the previous seven days. It now stands at its highest level in more than a month.

During the same period, the number of people being hospitalized every day in the suburbs remained stable, after rising sharply to an average of 31 people a day newly hospitalized with what public health officials classify as "COVID-like illnesses," or CLI.

Statewide, the rolling seven-day average positivity rate rose by more than a full percentage point this week. On Friday, public health officials announced the state had set a new one-day record number of new confirmed coronavirus cases — for the second day in a row.

The region with the fastest growing positivity rate is Region 8, made up of Kane and DuPage counties. The region has reported positivity rate increases on each of the past 10 days.

Its positivity rate had risen by 2.3 percentage points to 7.4 percent during the week ending Tuesday, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. The two-county region is on track to have additional restrictions in place as soon as next week.

Under Gov. J.B. Pritzker's Restore Illinois plan, if one of the state's 11 regions experiences three or more consecutive days of a coronavirus positivity rate of 8 percent or more, authorities activate additional restrictions on gatherings and businesses. The regional resurgence mitigations can also be triggered by a lack of sufficient hospital bed availability or rapidly rising rates of hospitalization.

The state's highest coronavirus positivity rate is in Region 1, the Rockford area, where two weeks of increased mitigations have failed to stem the increase in positivity rates. This week, the coronavirus positivity rate increased to 10.6 percent, hospitalizations rose significantly for the third consecutive week and availability of both surgical beds and beds in intensive care units continued to drop.

The number of counties considered to be at a warning level for the spread of COVID-19 increased from 26 last week to 34 this week, including some suburban counties for the first time. State public health officials consider a county at a warning level when it two or more risk indicators are triggered.

The counties at a warning level currently include: Adams, Alexander, Boone, Cass, Christian, Clay, Clinton, Crawford, DeKalb, DeWitt, Jasper, Jefferson, Jo Daviess, Johnson, Kane, Lee, Macon, McDonough, McHenry, Mercer, Monroe, Pike, Pulaski, Randolph, Saline, Stephenson, Union, Vermilion, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Whiteside, Will, Winnebago.

"Public health officials are observing businesses blatantly disregarding mitigation measures, people not social distancing, gathering in large groups, and not using face coverings," according to a statement from the department.

State public health officials reported 4,554 new confirmed cases of coronavirus Friday — a new single-day record — along with 38 new confirmed death.

As of Thursday night, there were 2,016 people in Illinois reported to be hospitalized with COVID-19, 204 more people than a week earlier and the most since mid-June.

Of people currently in Illinois hospitals, there were 410 patients in intensive care units, 15 more people in the state's ICUs than a week earlier. There were 151 COVID-19 patients on ventilators, falling by nine for the second week in a row.

Laboratories reported more than 87,700 specimens over the previous 24 hours. Starting this week, antigen tests, such as the Abbott Labs rapid test, have been included in testing data.

The preliminary statewide seven-day positivity rate was 5.1 for the week ending Thursday, up from 3.8 percent a week earlier, when calculated by a percentage of all tests completed.

Illinois Coronavirus Update Oct. 17: Illinois Sets New Daily Record With More Than 4,500 New Cases — Don't miss updates about precautions in the Chicago area as they are announced — Sign up for Patch news alerts and newsletters.

Data through Tuesday was released Friday. Find the latest metrics from all regions below:

Region 1 (Rockford EMS region)

• 10.6 percent coronavirus positivity rate on Oct. 13, up by 1.8 percentage points in the past week, additional COVID-19 mitigation measures have been in place in the region since Oct. 3
• 11 daily new hospital admissions of patients with coronavirus symptoms, up from nine last week and seven two weeks ago
• 33 percent of surgical beds and 42 percent of ICU beds are available, down from 36 percent of surgical beds and 46 percent of ICU beds a week earlier

Region 2 (Peoria EMS region)

• 6 percent coronavirus positivity rate on Oct. 13, up by 1 percentage points from a week earlier
• 11 new daily hospital admissions of people with COVID-19 symptoms, two fewer than the prior week
• 34 percent of surgical beds and 38 percent of ICU beds are available, 1 point more surgical beds and one point fewer ICU beds as last week

Region 3 (Springfield EMS region)

• 6.7 percent coronavirus positivity rate on Oct. 13, up by 1.5 percentage points from a week earlier
• Eight new daily hospital admissions, up from six week earlier
• 33 percent of surgical beds and 32 percent of ICU beds are available, compared to 32 percent of surgical beds and 36 percent of ICU beds a week earlier

Region 4 (Edwardsville EMS region)

• 7 percent coronavirus positivity rate on Oct. 13, up by 1.2 percentage points from a week earlier. The Pritzker administration lifted additional restrictions on the region last week
• Five new daily hospital admissions with COVID-19 symptoms, up from four the prior week
• 27 percent of surgical beds and 45 percent of ICU beds are available, the same percentage of available surgical beds and 2 percentage points more ICU beds compared to a week earlier

Region 5 (Marion EMS region)

• 7.8 percent coronavirus positivity rate on Oct. 13, up from 7 percent from a week earlier
• Nine new daily hospital admissions with CLI in the region, on average, up from six a week earlier
• 44 percent of surgical beds and 57 percent of ICU beds are available, 3 percentage points fewer available surgical beds and 1 point fewer ICU beds than a week prior

Region 6 (Champaign EMS region)

• 7.4 percent coronavirus positivity rate on Oct. 13 when excluding the University of Illinois comprehensive saliva testing program, an increase of 0.7 percentage points compared to a week earlier. This week, public health official announced an adjustment to data reporting to exclude only testing from the university's program, rather than all of Champaign County, from the regional metrics
• 14 new daily hospital admissions with coronavirus symptoms, up from 10 the prior week
• 32 percent of surgical beds and 45 percent of ICU beds are available, the same amount of surgical beds and 3 points fewer ICU beds than a week earlier

Region 7 (Will, Kankakee counties)

• 6.8 percent coronavirus positivity rate on Oct. 13, up by 1.3 percentage points from a week earlier
• 15 people a day were being admitted to the region's hospitals with COVID-19 symptoms, up from nine last week
• 25 percent of surgical beds and 26 percent of ICU beds are available at hospitals in the region, compared to 29 percent of surgical beds and 33 percent of ICU beds a week earlier

Region 8 (Kane, DuPage counties)

• 7.4 percent coronavirus positivity rate on Oct. 13, up by 2.3 percentage points during the prior week, with 10 consecutive days of positivity increases
• 18 people a day, on average, were being hospitalized with coronavirus symptoms, up from 14 a week earlier
• 29 percent of surgical beds and 41 percent of ICU beds remain available, 1 point more available surgical beds and 4 points fewer available ICU beds than the prior week

Region 9 (Lake, McHenry counties)

• 6.6 percent coronavirus positivity rate on Oct. 13, up by 0.7 percentage points from a week earlier
• 10 new hospital admissions with coronavirus systems every day, on average, up from eight a week earlier
• 34 percent of surgical beds and 50 percent of ICU beds were available, compared to 38 percent of surgical beds and 49 percent of ICU beds the prior week

Region 10 (Suburban Cook County)

• 6.3 percent coronavirus positivity rate on Oct. 13, up by 1.3 percentage points during the prior week
• 31 people a day, on average, were admitted to hospitals with COVID-19 symptoms, the same numbers as a week earlier
• 22 percent of surgical beds and 29 percent of ICU beds were available in the region's hospitals, 1 percentage point fewer surgical beds and the same amount of ICU beds compared to a week earlier

Region 11 (Chicago)

• 5.4 percent positivity rate on Oct. 13, up by 1.1 percentage points from a week earlier
• 28 people a day, on average were admitted to hospitals in the city with coronavirus symptoms, up by five in the prior week
• 22 percent of surgical beds were available and 31 percent of ICU beds remained available, compared to 23 percent of surgical beds and 30 percent of ICU beds a week earlier