1 IL Coronavirus Region ‘Dangerously Close’ To New Restrictions

ILLINOIS — State officials have warned local leaders in Illinois’ Metro East coronavirus region that they may have to implement new restrictions to curb a spike in new cases, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Wednesday.

The Metro East region — which includes Bond, Clinton, Madison, Monroe, Randolph, St. Clair and Washington counties — has seen its coronavirus-test positivity rate climb to 6.9 percent, as of Saturday, putting it “dangerously close” to the 8 percent threshold for the state to immediately implement new restrictions, Pritzker said.

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Pritzker said he spoke with leaders in the region and asked them to “clamp down on the outbreaks where they’re occurring so that the state won’t have to step in.”

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State officials said they are monitoring trends in Illinois’ 11 emergency management regions to detect potential indicators of future surges. Pritzker announced last week that the state redrew its coronavirus management regions — adding seven new ones — to pinpoint mitigation efforts “without reacting more broadly than circumstances require.”

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Positivity rates in Illinois’ other 10 coronavirus emergency management regions remained under 5 percent, Pritzker said Wednesday. The state's overall positivity rate stands at 3.1 percent, Pritzker said.

The mitigation plan includes three tiers of strategies, both general and industry-specific, to slow the spread of a coronavirus outbreak, Pritzker said last week. Officials published a document online last week that details the state’s new coronavirus mitigation plan.

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If indicators in a region show an increase in coronavirus cases along with a decrease in hospital capacity, or if there are three consecutive days with more than an 8 percent positive-test rate, officials said they may implement additional mitigation strategies to contain the spread of the virus.

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Those strategies include restaurants reducing indoor capacity or suspending bar service; hospitals canceling elective surgeries and limiting visitation; and stores and offices limiting capacity.

If coronavirus cases continued to surge in a region after those mitigations are implemented, bars and restaurants could be forced to suspend in-person dining altogether, or nonessential businesses may have to close again.

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Pritzker said the state made progress in its fight to limit the spread of the coronavirus since the outbreak started in March, “but our numbers now appear to be gradually rising, and that’s very concerning.”

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Public health officials reported 1,598 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, the most in July. Twenty-three additional deaths were reported Wednesday.

State doctors say “a gradually rising positivity rate is exactly when the exponential factors can take over,” Pritzker said. “You can go from 3 percent positivity to Arizona’s 23 percent positivity in the blink of an eye. We’ve been there; let’s not let that happen again.”

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Pritzker on Wednesday told “virus deniers” and residents who do not wear masks while out in public that they are the “enemy” amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“Choosing to go out in public without a mask is not a political statement. Going out without a face covering on endangers the other customers at the grocery store. It puts your friends and your family at risk. There’s nothing political about that,” Pritzker said.

“The enemy is not your mask,” he continued. “If you’re not wearing a mask in public, you’re endangering everyone around you, so the enemy is you.”

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Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, said public health officials expected an uptick in cases after indoor dining and drinking returned to restaurants and bars. But she warned all residents must commit to wearing masks and practicing social distancing if regions are to remain under the coronavirus-mitigation thresholds amid phase 4 of the state’s reopening plan.

Ezike said public officials continue to talk about wearing masks and social distancing “because these are simple measures that will in fact help protect us and all the people around us.”

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“I don't understand when trying to protect our neighbors became a bad act,” Ezike said. She compared current public health guidelines to measures like smoke-free restaurants and seat belts, which “are used universally to save people in vehicles from harm or death.”

“We have a chance to do the same thing with masking and distancing, so what’s the controversy?” Ezike said. “Not wearing face coverings, not social distancing is what will take us back to that we were just a few short months ago, where we were reporting hundreds of deaths every single day.”