More COVID-19 Resurgence Mitigations are taking effect this week around the state, as Region 3’s positivity rate hits an unwelcome threshold.
Governor J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health announced today increased mitigations will be implemented in Region 11, the City of Chicago, beginning on Friday. Region 11 is the second of the state’s 11 regions to trigger additional mitigations based on sustained increases in positivity and hospitalization rates, the first being its neighbor, Region 10 (Suburban Cook County) earlier in the week.
As of today, including Region 11, seven of the state’s 11 regions have triggered one of the state’s failsafe state-action metric. By tomorrow, Regions 4, 5, 7, 8, and 10 will all operate under Tier 1 mitigation measures given that these regions continue to report a 7-day rolling positivity rate above 8%.
Region 3, which encompasses the entire WLDS/WEAI listening area, reached 8% positivity today following seven straight days of positivity rate increases and three consecutive days of hospital admission increases according to the IDPH website.
If the positivity rate in Region 3 stays at 8% or above for three consecutive days, increased tier 1 mitigations would be imposed such as the closure of indoor restaurant and bar service and a restrained gathering cap limit of 25 people. Pritzker says the increased capacity mitigations do not apply to schools or polling places.
Region 1 is currently operating under Tier 2 mitigation measures after continuing to see a rise in positivity even under the Tier 1 mitigation framework, and is now at a rolling positivity average of 12.5% as of this morning.