SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) – The Illinois Department of Public Health is adopting new federal guidelines for tracking COVID-19 at the community level.

Under the new CDC guidelines case rates and hospitalizations are emphasized in order to better track the prevalence of COVID-19 in communities, and testing providers will no longer be required to report some negative tests.

 Therefore, IDPH will no longer report test and case positivity.

In addition to adopting new CDC guidelines, IDPH is bolstering the data on its COVID-19 dashboard to provide additional information to help communities respond to changes in the course of the virus.

Among the new data that has been or will be shared on the IDPH COVID-19 dashboard are the following:

• Updated data on vaccination rates to reflect the full population eligible as eligibility continues to evolve.

• The number of people admitted to the hospital with a COVID-19 diagnosis.

• More detailed data on hospitalizations, including information about vaccination status in those who are hospitalized.

“Test and case positivity rates were seen as a good way to monitor the level of community spread early in the pandemic,” said IDPH Acting Director Amaal Tokars. “At this stage, now that we have vaccines and effective therapies available, it is more useful to rely on data that indicates the case rate, disease severity and the level of strain on healthcare system to guide our public health recommendations.”

States will no longer be required to report negative antigen test (rapid test) results – and are only required to report negative PCR and NAAT (Nucleic Acid Amplification Test) results that were performed in certified labs.

In addition, the widespread use of at-home tests means that national testing data is not as comprehensive or representative of population-based testing as it was before the introduction of at-home tests.

The CDC announced in March that is relying on these three metrics to determine the community level of COVID-19 and to classify it as low, medium or high:

• Total new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in the past 7 days.

• New COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 population in the past 7 days.

• The percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients.

IDPH officials report that case rates for COVID-19 are now slowly rising in many areas of the state. However, hospitalizations and deaths continue to remain low at this time.

Given that the spread of COVID-19 is increasing, it is critically important that those who are at high risk for serious illness take the following precautions:

• Get vaccinated and stay up-to-date on recommended booster shots to protect yourself, your loved ones and friends.

• If you are in an area with rising  COVID-19 infections, wear a mask if entering indoor spaces with other people present and consider avoiding large gatherings.

• Stick to well-ventilated areas if you are not wearing a mask indoors around other people.

• If you feel flu-like symptoms, self-isolate and stay home from work as well as social gatherings; and obtain a test as quickly as possible.

• If you test positive, talk to your provider immediately so you can get COVID-19 treatment within five days of starting to feel sick. Also, communicate about the positive result with any persons you have been in close contact within two days of falling sick or testing positive.

• Continue to frequently wash your hands and cover coughs and sneezes.

For more information, go to:  https://dph.illinois.gov/covid19.html. To find a COVID-19 vaccination location near you, go to www.vaccines.gov.

The federal government recently established a new website that provides an all-purpose toolkit that provides information on how to obtain masks, treatment, vaccines and testing resources for all areas of the country at: https://www.covid.gov/.