Now that final approval has been given, millions of doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine will soon be distributed throughout the U.S. NBC 5’s Vi Nguyen reports.
Several Illinois healthcare regions that had seen progress in their coronavirus metrics in recent days have taken steps back, but a few are still advancing toward a potential rollback of Tier 3 coronavirus mitigation rules.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has indicated that the state may not allow regions to roll back mitigations due to concerns of holiday-related spikes in COVID-19 numbers, but Region 6 in east-central Illinois has met all three criteria to move forward, leaving the state to make an interesting decision on whether to pull back on restrictions.
To roll back Tier 3 mitigations, the following criteria must be met:
-A region’s positivity rate must be at or below 12% for three consecutive days.
-A region’s hospital bed and ICU bed availability must exceed 20% for three consecutive days.
-A region’s hospitalizations must have decreased on seven of the preceding 10 days.
Here is where things stand in Illinois’ healthcare regions:
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Region 1 (Northwest Illinois):
The region has seen its positivity rate rapidly decline in recent days, dropping to 12.1% on Dec. 10. The region’s hospital bed availability continues to rise (28.2%) and its hospitalizations continue to decrease, but ICU bed availability (18.6%) remains under the threshold.
Region 2 (West-Central Illinois):
The region’s positivity rate dropped to 11.6% on Dec. 10, as the region’s ICU bed availability (15.2%) is still well below the threshold required to move forward from Tier 3 mitigations. The region currently has 21.3% hospital bed availability and has seen increases in hospitalizations each of the last four days.
Region 3 (West Illinois):
The region’s positivity rate has continued to plummet, dropping to 9.1%, and the region is also seeing an uptick in hospital bed availability (24.3%) as the area has recorded 10 straight days of decreases in hospitalizations. The lone area where the region is still falling short of moving forward from Tier 3 mitigations is its ICU bed availability, which increased to 15.5%.
Region 4 (Southwest Illinois):
While the positivity rate in this region dropped to 13.1%, the region saw a downturn in hospital bed availability (12.8%) and an increase in ICU bed availability (17.1%). After a long line of decreases in hospitalizations, that number ticked upward on Saturday and Sunday.
Region 5 (South Illinois):
The region’s positivity rate dropped to 11.4% on Dec. 10, as officials saw an increase in hospital bed availability (32.1%) and an decrease in ICU bed availability (14.2%) in the region. Even still, hospitalizations overall have decreased on nine of the last 10 days.
Region 6 (East-Central Illinois):
As of Sunday, Region 6 is officially hitting all metrics to move forward from Tier 3 mitigations, with a 10.5% positivity rate, ICU and hospital bed availability of greater than 20% and eight days of hospitalization decreases in the last 10 days. However, the region saw a slight increase in hospitalizations Saturday and Sunday. It is unknown whether Region 6 will be allowed to move forward thuogh, as Gov. J.B. Pritzker said that IDPH will need to make the final determination.
Region 7 (Will, Kankakee counties):
Hospitalizations have decreased each of the last 10 days in the region, with ICU bed availability also dropping to 19.1% Sunday. According to the latest IDPH data, hospital bed availability rose to 18.4% and the positivity rate flattened at 13.5%. Both ICU bed and hospital bed availability sits below the 20% threshold.
Region 8 (DuPage, Kane counties):
The positivity rate in this region has dropped to 12.7%, while ICU bed availability (19.1%) and hospital bed availability (15.6%) both increased on Sunday. The region has seen hospitalizations decrease nine of the last 10 days. only increasing Sunday by one.
Region 9 (McHenry, Lake counties):
Region 9 could potentially hit the thresholds required to move back from Tier 3 mitigations, as the region hit 11.9% positivity rate on Dec. 10. The region has seen increases in both ICU bed (30.5%) and hospital bed (23.5%) availability in recent days, along with decreases in hospitalizations for nine days.
Region 10 (Suburban Cook County):
Positivity rates dropped stlightly across the region Sunday, currently sitting at 13%. ICU bed (17.6%) and hospital bed (18.9%) availability have both increased over the last 24 hours, with both remaining slightly below the 20% threshold.
Region 11 (Chicago):
Region 11 was the only healthcare region to see an increase in positivity rates Dec. 10, rising to 12.5%. Though the region was seeing a steady decrease of hospitalizations over nine days, Chicago increased by two Sunday. Both ICU bed (19.4%) and hospital bed (18.4) availability have remained largely consistent in recent days, according to IDPH data.
