Metro East’s COVID-19 Stats Still Spiking While South Suburbs Recover, Indoor Dining and Bar Ban Remains
The COVID-19 positivity rate for the Metro East has not made any significant improvements since stricter mitigations were put on the region last month, while the south suburbs has seen a marked drop in its positivity rate after living under those same mitigations.
But Gov. JB Pritzker said Thursday that Will and Kankakee counties still have a ways to go before restaurants and bars are able to serve patrons inside again.
The seven counties that make up Region 4 in Illinois’ Metro East outside of St. Louis have seen high positivity rates for weeks, and triggered stricter mitigations in mid-August when the region recorded three straight days of a positivity rate above 8%. The Illinois Department of Public Health and Pritzker initially followed the governor’s prescribed plan to limit indoor dining and reduce the size of gatherings. But the region’s positivity rate just kept climbing. By the time Region 7 — Will and Kankakee Counties — also recorded three days of high positivity rates in late August, Pritzker and IDPH decided to skip over the first tier of mitigations straight to shutting down indoor dining and bars, much to the annoyance of local leaders, who said it was unfair that Region 4 had more time before stricter mitigations kicked in.Ultimately, those stricter mitigations did kick in for the Metro East last week, but so far there has been no effect on the seven-day rolling average positivity rate for the region. As of Sept. 7, Region 7 had been above the 8% positivity rate trigger point for four full weeks, and is currently at a 10.1% positivity rate when measured by a seven-day rolling average.
In contrast, Region 7 saw 15 days of a positivity rate above the 8% trigger point, and had seen five days of recovery as of Sept. 7, according to IDPH data, falling to 7.5% positivity as of earlier this week.
But that’s not enough to open up indoor dining and bars again, Pritzker said Thursday. Instead, IDPH is looking for Region 7 to get under a 6.5% positivity rate before returning to the same conditions the rest of the state aside from Regions 4 and 7 are operating under.
“I'm hopeful that Region 7 might become a testament to the community's ability to turn the ship around in the right direction,” Pritzker said.
But State Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) said Pritzker continuing to block indoor dining in Will and Kankakee counties despite their quick recovery was the wrong move.“The positivity rate is not being applied apples to apples throughout the state,” Batinick said. “Our positivity rate is actually much lower than what’s being reported because [IDPH is] counting tests, not cases.”
Batinick pointed to county-level data that counts individual cases and not tests, which indicate the region has seen a maximum positivity rate of 6.8%.
“You can’t go to the same Trump voter four times and ask who they’re voting for and put it in a poll,” Batinick said. “Same if someone tests positive and keeps getting tested to test out [in order to go back to work].”
Batinick said he still doesn’t know why Region 7’s positivity rates spiked in August, and suggested IDPH should send out mobile testing units when positivity rates approach 8% in order to figure it out. Some bar and restaurant owners have created a petition asking for their establishments in Will and Kankakee counties to reopen by October 1.
Pritzker on Thursday referred to questions about the 8% positivity trigger point, but didn’t address the question directly, instead paraphrasing National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci.“Dr. Anthony Fauci said it best,” Pritzker said. “‘There will always be cases,’ he said. But how you prevent those blips of cases from becoming something that obviates the whole program. That's what you're preparing for. You can either close the bars or close the schools.”
Pritzker again blamed the White House and federal government’s response to COVID-19, saying states and local governments were on their own.“We can't pretend that we can fully restore our economic vitality, as long as it's here without any way to temper or prevent it,” Pritzker said. “We will be fighting to save the Titanic with a plastic bucket, because there's no national strategy. It's up to us.”
Hannah Meisel
Hannah Meisel is an independent journalist with nearly seven years of experience covering Illinois government and politics. She tweets daily COVID-19 charts and updates @hannahmeisel.