IDPH: 17 Counties on COVID-19 Warning List

Rockford Memorial Hospital.

Rockford Memorial Hospital.

The Illinois Department of Public Health reports 17 Illinois counties, mostly downstate, are on the state’s warning list for infection rates of the coronavirus.

Bond, Boone, Cass, Christian, Clinton, Crawford, DeWitt, Fayette, Grundy, Hamilton, Macon, Menard, Peoria, Putnam, Washington, Wayne, and Winnebago counties are currently on the state warning list. Last week, 24 counties were listed. Macon County includes Decatur and Winnebago County includes Rockford.

Earlier this week, Governor JB Pritzker indicated the counties around Rockford were close to a sustained positive testing rate of 8% and would face mitigation, like closure of bars and restaurants to indoor service, if the rate continued to increase.

IDPH reports Winnebago County’s current positivity rate at 8.1%. Peoria County, which is also on the warning list, has a 5.8% positivity rate and Macon County has a 5.6% positivity rate.

Crawford County, on the Indiana border in southern Illinois has the state’s highest positivity rate at 19.1%. The statewide rate is around 3.6%.

NewsPatrick Pfingsten