SPRINGFIELD - The recent Illinois Department of Public Health COVID-19 positivity stats in Region 4 show a 7-day rolling average of 16.3 percent as of Friday, Nov. 13, 2020.
The positivity rate is the percentage of people who test positive for the COVID-19 virus of those overall who have been tested. As more and more are being tested, the focus is shifting to the positivity rate - how many of those tested were actually infected.
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Madison County's 7-day rolling average was 17.1 percent as of Friday, Nov. 13. While St. Clair County's 7-day rolling average was 13.8 percent.
Region 3, which encompasses Jersey, Greene, Calhoun, and Macoupin counties, had a similar 16.8 percent 7-day rolling average as of Friday, Nov. 13.
Calhoun's 7-day rolling average stood at 9.2 percent, Greene County's was 22.6 percent, Jersey County was 17.3 percent and Macoupin County was 16.4 percent.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said his office with the IDPH encourages people to continue to follow the COVID-19 mitigations that are in place.
“We are taking some glimmer of hope that we have seen the cases flatten for a few days, but we look at everything on a 7-day rolling average," he said. "We are hoping that people will remain responsible.”
Asked about the high school basketball season during the press conference, Pritzker said firmly, his office has made it clear where they are on winter sports and COVID-19 has gotten a lot worse since his office made the decision to move basketball to a high-risk sport. Supposedly, Pritzker, the IDPH, and IHSA are supposed to meet this week, but in the media questions to the governor on Monday, it didn’t sound like he was budging on his previous stance of putting the season on hold.
Madison County Health Department spokesperson Amy Yeager said people have to continue to take COVID-19 warnings seriously as the second wave of the pandemic has definitely hit.
“We need to keep following the precautions as best we can,” she said. “We have offered a lot of testing and we want people to be tested. We want to catch these cases and get them quarantined. That helps slow down the transmission. We have to make sure we don’t keep spreading the virus in this second wave of the pandemic. Europe has had the second wave for a couple of months, while it is just starting in America.”
Yeager again stressed the importance of wearing masks, social distancing, avoiding large gatherings, and always taking proper precautions. For the holidays, she said people need to do as much virtually as they can and again avoid any large gatherings.
