All 11 of Illinois’ healthcare regions are currently operating under Tier 3 coronavirus mitigation rules, but some regions are trending in the right direction to have those rules eased in the coming weeks.
Here is where things stand in Illinois as of Friday (note: positivity rates have a three-day lag in data, meaning the latest information in that statistic is from Monday):
Region 1 (Northwestern Illinois):
Bed availability in this region was at 24% as of Thursday, while ICU bed availability was at 25%. New hospitalizations are declining overall, as is the region’s positivity rate, which has dropped to 15.2%.
Region 2 (West-Central Illinois):
Positivity rate sits at 13.7% as of Thursday, but hospital bed availability was at 24% while ICU bed availability was at 19.5%, the latter under the 20% threshold after declines on each of the last three days.
The region is also seeing a slow increase in new hospitalizations related to the virus.
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Region 3 (Western Illinois):
Hospitalizations are on the rise in this region, but positivity rates are on a decline, dropping to 11.9% as of Thursday. ICU bed availability remains very low, sitting at 14.8%, but hospital bed availability has increased to 26.9%, reversing a recent downward trend.
Region 4 (Southwestern Illinois):
This region has seen hospitalizations increase on nine of the last 10 days, and their hospital bed availability has been under the 20% threshold for 10 consecutive days. ICU availability was 16.9% as of Thursday, while overall bed availability was at 13.4%. The region’s positivity rate has decreased recently, dropping to 13.6%.
Region 5 (Southeastern Illinois):
The positivity rate in this region increased slightly Thursday to 12.6%, and the availability of ICU beds has continued its worrying decline, dropping to 13.7% on Thursday. The region has also seen its hospitalizations increase each of the last 11 days.
Region 6: (Eastern Illinois):
Perhaps the region closest to rolling back Tier 3 mitigations, this region, which includes Champaign County, is well above the 20% threshold in available hospital and ICU beds, and has seen six straight days of decreases in hospitalizations overall.
The seven-day positivity rate has dropped to 12.1%, according to the IDPH.
Region 7 (Will, Kankakee counties):
Hospital bed availability was at 19.9% on Thursday, and ICU availability was at 21%. The region has also seen a two-day decrease in hospital admissions.
The region’s seven-day positivity rate is declining, but still remains well above the 12% threshold to trigger a reduction in mitigations, sitting at 17.2%.
Region 8 (Kane, DuPage counties):
The region may finally be turning a corner in terms of hospitalizations, as the region has seen slight decreases on each of the last four days, but other metrics remain concerning here, including the availability of hospital beds and ICU beds, both of which are now at 20.1% after days of being under the 20% threshold required to move out of Tier 3 restrictions.
The region’s positivity rate had remained largely steady, but has finally started to drop to 13.7%, following the lead of numerous other communities in the state.
Region 9 (McHenry, Lake counties):
The region has seen continued declines in positivity rates, falling to 12.7% this week, and it also remains over the 20% threshold in both hospital bed availability and ICU bed availability.
The news is better on the overall hospitalizations front, as the region has seen seven consecutive days of declines in that metric.
Region 10 (Suburban Cook County):
Suburban Cook County is seeing continued decreases in positivity rates, as that number has dropped to 13.3%.
The one area of concern for the region in terms of rolling back mitigations comes in the availability of ICU beds, as the region has spent six consecutive days under the 20% threshold. Just 19.5% of the region’s ICU beds are open for COVID-19 patients.
Region 11 (Chicago):
The city is moving in the right direction in its positivity rate, which dropped to 12.4% on Thursday, and has remained over the threshold required for hospital bed availability. Thursday marked the first day in the last 30 in which hospital admissions fell slightly.
