New COVID-19 mitigation plan, regions announced
On Wednesday, July 15 public health officials and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker laid out a new COVID-19 mitigation plan, metrics and revised regions for monitoring the pandemic’s impact on Illinois.
Metrics and Mitigation
The following metrics will be used to determine when the spread of the virus in a region requires additional mitigations:
Sustained increase in 7-day rolling average (7 out of 10 days) in the positivity rate and one of the following severity indicators:
Sustained 7-day increase in hospital admissions for a COVID-19 like illness
Reduction in hospital capacity threatening surge capabilities (ICU capacity or medical/surgical beds
OR three consecutive days averaging ≥ 8% positivity rate
The updated guidance from IDPH establishes three tiers of mitigations that could be implemented if a region were to meet the resurgence metrics.
Mitigation strategies in high-risk settings, like bars and restaurants, will be automatically applied in a region that meets resurgence criteria. Mitigation strategies for settings like retail, fitness, and salons will be available if testing and contact tracing data at the local level indicate those mitigations are advisable.
Mitigation Plan Regions
These mitigation strategies will be applied on a regional basis. The new 11 regions for this mitigation plan are based on Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Regions, which have traditionally guided IDPH in its statewide public health work. Expanding to 11 regions allows for a more granular approach in this phase of the response to COVID-19. The new regions follow county lines to account for counties that are in more than one region of the EMS system.
The new regions include:
NORTH:Boone, Carroll, DeKalb, Jo Daviess, Lee, Ogle, Stephenson, Whiteside, Winnebago
NORTH-CENTRAL:Bureau, Fulton, Grundy, Henderson, Henry, Kendall, Knox, La Salle, Livingston, Marshall, McDonough, McLean, Mercer, Peoria, Putnam, Rock Island, Stark, Tazewell, Warren, Woodford
WEST-CENTRAL:Adams, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Christian, Greene, Hancock, Jersey, Logan, Macoupin, Mason, Mason, Menard, Montgomery, Morgan, Pike, Sangamon, Schuyler, Scott
METRO EAST:Bond, Clinton, Madison, Monroe, Randolph, St. Clair, Washington
SOUTHERN:Alexander, Edwards, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Marion, Massac, Perry, Pope, Pulaski, Saline, Union, Wabash, Wayne, White, Williamson
EAST-CENTRAL: Champaign, Clark, Clay, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, De Witt, Douglas, Edgar, Effingham, Fayette, Ford, Iroquois, Jasper, Lawrence, Macon, Moultrie, Piatt, Richland, Shelby, Vermillion
SOUTH SUBURBAN:Kankakee, Will
WEST SUBURBAN:DuPage, Kane
NORTH SUBURBAN:Lake, McHenry
SUBURBAN COOK:Suburban Cook
CHICAGO:City of Chicago
A map of the resurgence plan regions will be available on the state’s coronavirus website: www.coronavirus.illinois.gov.
Contact Tracing
In recent weeks the state’s contract tracing operation has expanded. Today, 1,450 contact tracers are working across Illinois. In the next week, 26 local health departments will receive additional funding from the state totaling more than $127 million of available grant funds for contact tracing. These funds will enable local health departments to hire approximately 1,330 more contact tracers in the coming months to further expand these efforts.