Springfield, Ill. (WAND) - The Illinois Department of Public Health just announced Region 3 will go under new resurgence mitigations beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, November 1, 2020.
The mitigations include no indoor bar and restaurant service as well as the other mitigation measures outlined below:
Region 3 makes up the western portion of Central Illinois and includes the following counties: Sangamon, Logan, Christian, Montgomery, Macoupin, Jersey, Greene, Calhoun, Pike, Adams, Hancock, Schuyler, Cass, Morgan, Scott, Brown, Mason, Menard.
On Thursday, Region 3 hit its third day above the 8% rolling positivity rate. In order to face new mitigations, a region would need to be above the 8% rolling positivity rate for three consecutive days.
“This is the first time a central Illinois region has needed to implement mitigation measures because of increasing positivity,” said IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “For those residents living in regions and communities where the virus didn’t seem to be ‘that bad,’ things are changing with positivity rates steadily increasing. We’ve seen regions move into and then out of mitigation, so we know the measures work. The more people adhere to the measures, the quicker we can move out of mitigation.”
“As of this morning, Region 3 – which encompasses Quincy, Springfield and much of West-Central Illinois – has now sustained an average positivity rate of 8 percent or higher for three days, today hitting 8.8 percent – meaning that, starting Sunday, they will join the majority of the state in operating under resurgence mitigations,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Something has got to give, and these mitigations aim to cut down on those high-risk activities until we bring down the positivity rate in an area once again. Because let’s be clear: well-meaning and reasonable people can have fair disagreements about how and where to draw lines and connect dots – but when every single metric in every single corner of the state is trending poorly, we have to take meaningful action to keep our people safe.”
On Tuesday, Region 3 had a 8.0% rolling positivity rate. On Wednesday, the rolling positivity rate was 8.1%. Thursday the positivity rate was at 8.8% based on the most recent data.
Region 6 which makes up the eastern portion of Central Illinois is now at its second day above the 8% positivity rate threshold. If the region continues to be at or above a 8% positivity rate on Friday, new mitigations could be announced. Region 6 had a 8.1% 7-day rolling positivity rate on Wednesday. On Thursday, IDPH announced it now has a 8.4% positivity rate.
Region 6 is made up of the following counties: Champaign, Clark, Clay, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, DeWitt, Douglas, Edgar, Effingham, Fayette, Ford, Iroquois, Jasper, Lawrence, Macon, Moultrie, Piatt, Richland, Shelby and Vermilion.
Governor Pritzker will give a COVID-19 update Thursday at 2:30p.m., he is expected to address the recent increases in positivity rates and new mitigations.
To see the current regions and positivity rates, click here.
