* Press release…

The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 1,848 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 22 additional confirmed deaths.

Christian County: 1 female 60s
Cook County: 1 male 60s, 2 female 70s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s, 1 male 90s
Douglas County: 1 male 60s
Franklin County: 1 male 80s
Kankakee County: 1 male 80s
Lake County: 1 male 40s
Macon County: 1 male 50s, 1 female 80s
Peoria County: 1 male 70s
Rock Island County: 1 female 80s, 2 males 80s
Tazewell County: 1 male 90s
Will County: 1 male 90s
Williamson County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s

Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 279,114 cases, including 8,508 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from September 16 – September 22 is 3.5%. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 46,391 specimens for a total of 5,231,607. As of last night, 1,563 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 351 patients were in the ICU and 144 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.

Following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, IDPH is now reporting separately both confirmed and probable cases and deaths on its website. Reporting probable cases will help show the potential burden of COVID-19 illness and efficacy of population-based non-pharmaceutical interventions. IDPH will update these data once a week.

*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in real-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.

* Gov. Pritzker at today’s press conference…

That said, one of our regions, Region One in northern Illinois, which includes Rockford, Dixon and Galena, has continued to climb toward the 8 percent threshold at a concerning rate - now sitting at a seven-day average of 7.5 percent as of today’s data.

IDPH has reached out to county health officials to discuss preventative measures that can be taken at the local level to avoid additional mitigations in their communities to area residents in Region One. Please wear your masks, encourage others to wear masks, watch your distance, wash your hands and get your flu shot now to make sure that if you get COVID-19, it won’t be much worse than it otherwise could be.

You don’t have to take my word for the fact that you can lower your positivity rate. Just look at Region Seven. That’s Will and Kankakee counties, which brought their positivity rate average down and were able to return to the Phase Four mitigations of our Restore Illinois plan last Friday. That region is now sitting at a 5.7 percent average.

Or look at Region Four, Metro East. After reaching a positivity rate as high as 10 percent and despite bordering Missouri, which has a 12 percent positivity rate, Region Four has brought its average down to 7.3 percent as of today. They may be on their way down to 6.5 percent and a removal of regional mitigations. We’re all rooting for the Metro East. You’re so close and you’re heading in the right direction and I’m hopeful that local law enforcement, local elected officials and local public health officials will work together to help enforce the guidance on capacity limits and encouraging masking and distancing.