New Coronavirus Hospitalizations Dip In Suburban Cook County

COOK COUNTY — Coronavirus positivity rates have increased over the in the second week of August for all but two of the 11 state's regions. The news comes as state public health officials declare a pair of suburban Chicago counties at a warning level for COVID-19 for the first time.

In suburban Cook County, or Region 10, the percentage of tests that came back positive for the virus increased to 5.9 percent, rising by 0.2 percentage points between Aug. 5 and Aug. 11, the most recent date where data is available.

New hospitalizations — measured by the Illinois Department of Public Health using a rolling average of new "COVID like illness admissions" and rounded to the nearest person — were down compared to last week.

The average number of people newly admitted to hospitals in the region fell by two to 20, which remains five more than the rolling average two weeks ago. And the percentage of available surgical beds ticked down slightly to 28 percent, according to the state public health agency.

Illinois officials have set an 8-percent positivity threshold for triggering new restrictions, and a rate below 5 percent indicates an adequate number tests are being conducted, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Public health officials Friday announced 14 counties were considered to be at a warning level for a surge of COVID-19 cases, including Bureau, Cass, Clinton, Franklin, Greene, Grundy, Hancock, Jefferson, Kane, LaSalle, Moultrie, Perry, Union and Will counties.

The list includes 10 new counties — including two in the Chicago suburbs — as well as four that were among the 13 at a warning level a week earlier.

The state also reported the highest number of new coronavirus cases in a single day since May, with more than 2,200 new infections detected. As of late Thursday, there were 1,612 people hospitalized with COVID-19 across Illinois. They included 345 people in intensive care units and 126 people on ventilators, according to state health officials.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker's administration has established 11 regions for coronavirus mitigation purposes. Outside the Chicago suburbs, they align with existing emergency medical services regions. Collar counties are paired in their own regions and Cook County is divided into the city and suburbs.

There are two thresholds established that trigger increased restrictions on a regional level.

One is three days in a row with an average positivity rate of 8 percent or more.

The Edwardsville region exceeded the threshold for the first time on the most recent day where data is available. In northern Illinois, the Will-Kankakee region has the highest positivity rate at 6.7 percent. The Rockford and Champaign regions were the only ones to see declines in positivity over the past week.

The other is the combination of seven days of increasing average positivity rates out of the past 10 days plus either hospital bed availability falling below 20 percent in the region or seven days out of 10 with an an increasing rounded average number of new hospital admissions.

The Edwardsville region has 29 percent of surgical beds available. The other regions with the lowest percentage of available beds available — Chicago and suburban Cook County — also have the most total beds.

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

Region 1 (Rockford EMS region)

• 3.7 percent positivity rate on Aug. 11, down from 4.5 percent a week earlier
• Four days of positivity increases and five days of declines over the past 10 days
• Average of two new hospital admissions with symptoms of COVID-19, down from five last week.
• 42 percent of surgical beds and 54 percent of ICU beds are available, an increase of 2 and 1 percent, respectively compared to the prior week.

Region 2 (Peoria EMS region)

• 5.6 percent positivity rate on Aug. 11, up by 0.3 percentage points compared to a week earlier
• Seven days of positivity increases in past 10 for the third week in a row
• Nine people hospitalized a day, on average, the same as a week before
• 40 percent of surgical beds and 44 percent of ICU beds in the region remain available, compared to 40 percent of surgical beds and and 43 percent of ICU beds the prior week

Region 3 (Springfield EMS region)

• 6.1 percent positivity rate on Aug. 11, up from 5.1 percent a week earlier
• Five days of positivity increases in past 10
• An average of five hospital admissions in past 10 days, up from four the prior week
• 35 percent of surgical beds and 40 percent of ICU beds are available in the region, a decrease in 4 percentage points in surgical beds and 7 percentage points of ICU beds.

Region 4 (Edwardsville EMS region)

• 8.2 percent positivity rate on Aug. 11, up from 6.8 percent the prior week and above the key threshold set by the state.
• Six days of increases in positivity rates over the past 10 days
• An average of four daily hospitalizations, the same as the prior week
• 29 percent of surgical beds, down from 31 percent a week earlier, and 42 percent of ICU beds, down from from 45 percent, remain available at hospitals in the region.

Region 5 (Marion EMS region)

• 7.5 percent positivity rate on Aug. 11, up by 1 percentage point from a week earlier
• Five days out of the previous 10 with increases in positivity rates
• Two people a day hospitalized on average with symptoms of COVID-19, down from three a week earlier
• 49 percent of surgical beds are available, 1 percentage point less than a week earlier. During that period the percentage of available ICU beds dropped 6 points to 58 percent.

Region 6 (Champaign EMS region)

• 2.5 percent positivity rate on Aug. 11, down by 0.4 percentage points compared to a week earlier
• Three days of positivity increases, five days of declines in past 10 days.
• An average of eight people a day are being hospitalized in the region, up from five a week earlier
• 36 percent of surgical beds are available compared to 37 percent a week earlier, and 40 percent of ICU beds are available, down from 48 percent.

Region 7 (Will, Kankakee counties)

• 6.6 percent positivity rate on Aug. 11, up from 5.9 percent the prior week
• Four days of positivity increases in the past 10
• 14 hospital admissions a day on average, up from nine a week earlier, with the rounded rolling average increasing on six of the past 10 days.
• 29 percent of surgical beds and 32 percent of ICU beds are available, a decrease of 5 percentage points in surgical beds and 4 points in ICU beds.

Region 8 (Kane, DuPage counties)

• 4.9 percent positivity rate on Aug. 11, up by 0.4 percentage points compared to the prior week
• Three days of increasing positivity over the past 10.
• An average of 10 new hospital admissions a day, down from 11 the previous week
• 30 percent of surgical beds and 43 percent of ICU beds remain available, both are down 4 points compared to a week earlier

Region 9 (Lake, McHenry counties)

• 5.7 percent positivity rate on Aug. 11, up from 5.1 percent the prior week
• Six days out of the past 10 have seen increasing positivity rates
• An average of seven people were hospitalized a day, down from eight a week earlier
• 36 percent of surgical beds and 53 percent of ICU beds are available at hospitals in the region, a decrease of 3 points in surgical beds and an increase of 2 points in ICU beds.

Region 10 (Suburban Cook County)

• 5.9 percent positivity rate on Aug. 11, an increase of 0.2 percentage points from a week earlier
• Three days out of the last 10 have had increasing positivity
• There were an average of 20 new hospitalizations a day, down from 22 a week earlier
• 28 percent of surgical beds and 34 percent of ICU beds are available, a decrease of 1 percentage point in surgical beds

Region 11 (Chicago)

• 5.1 percent positivity rate on Aug. 11, up by 0.2 percentage points over the past week
• Four days out of last 10 with increasing positivity
• 18 people hospitalized a day, on average, down from 20 a week earlier
• 26 percent of surgical beds and 40 percent of ICU beds are available, a decrease of 1 point in each over the past week.

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