Health & Fitness
Region 9 Has Highest COVID-19 Positivity Rate In Chicago Area
Lake and McHenry counties saw a huge jump in people testing positive for COVID-19 in recent days.
LAKE AND MCHENRY COUNTIES, IL — Lake and McHenry counties saw its test positivity rate spike again in recent days. The most recent health data shows Region 9, which includes both Lake and McHenry counties, has hit 15.3 percent for its seven-day rolling average test positivity rate.
That rate is the highest in the Chicago area, surpassing Region 8, which includes Kane and DeKalb counties, which currently has a positivity rate of 15.1 percent, according to the latest public health data released Thursday by the Illinois Department of Health.
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In comparison, for much of this past summer, COVID-19 positivity rates hovered between 3.5 percent and 6 percent. That rate started to spike in October.
Meanwhile, the number of daily hospitalizations for COVID-like illnesses is also jumping and hospital bed availability is plummeting. As of Thursday, bed availability was at 27 percent a drop of two percentage points since Wednesday. A week earlier, bed availability was at 34 percent.
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Concerns over hospital capacity heighten for state health officials when the availability of medical and surgical beds, as well as beds in the region's ICUs, dips under 20 percent. Currently, ICU bed availability is at 44 percent.
On Thursday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker warned residents a stay-at-home order may be coming soon due to the spike in COVID-19 cases and hospital admissions.
Region 9 currently has Tier 1 mitigations in place, which is meant to restrict access to indoor dining and drinking, but many restaurants and bars are not following those rules and others are fighting the state in court to be allowed to remain open. Health officials say the region is on track to enter Tier 2 in the coming days.
Tier 2 mitigations "may be applied" if a region's positivity rate remains above 8 percent after 14 days. The region could hit the 14-day mark on Nov. 14, local health officials said last week.
Tier 2 mitigations would include further limitations on in-person dining and social gatherings, a ban on indoor recreational activities, new restrictions at hospitals, and a return to curbside pickup from retail stores
On Wednesday, state health officials made several recommendations for residents to "stay at home as much as possible" over the next three weeks, but stopped short of issuing any orders to that effect. Officials are also imploring residents to limit their travels for the next three weeks, including over the Thanksgiving holiday period, which could "present a high risk of spreading the infection," the IDPH said in a release.
"Our goal is to reduce transmission as we head into the holidays so businesses and schools can remain open," IDPH officials said.
More information from the Illinois Department of Public Health on Region 9 can be found here.
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