ILLINOIS, USA — Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker gave a 2:30 p.m. press conference detailing COVID-19 spikes and the state's recovery effort.
Pritzker began by noting that all areas of the state have been seeing a worrying increase of positivity rates, hospitalizations, deaths, and case numbers in recent times, after the state had been relatively successful in fighting back the pandemic in the summer months.
The administration is resuming daily press briefings in response to the alarming numbers.
The governor noted that southern Illinois's has reached a sustained positivity rate of over 8% over the past several days, and now sits at a rolling positivity rate of 9.1%. The region will be faced with increased protective measures, such as closing indoor dining and reducing the size of group gatherings.
Pritzker says that 2 of the state's 11 regions, consisting of southern and northwestern Illinois, have reached the 8% positivity rate metric that have triggered extra protective measures, and several other regions may soon be joining them.
Pritzker said that on Thursday, October 15, the state set a new record for cases identified in a single day, and then broke it again the day after.
Pritzker notes these spikes in relation to both national and Midwestern trends of increasing cases, noting that several of Illinois's border states, including Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Indiana have positivity rates in the double digits; as high as nearly 25%.
Experts predict that the virus will have an additional surge as temperatures continue to fall, people stay indoors more often, and the public's guard lowers during the holiday season.
Pritzker says that Illinois has the best testing infrastructure between the coastline states, and that the state will continue to strong fight against the pandemic with the experience and information that it gained over several months.
The administration recommends that all citizens follow health guidelines to protect themselves and others, and to demand that local officials and health departments take action if data shows that their community is seeing a notable COVID-19 problem.
