Pritzker: If COVID-19 situation doesn’t improve, some form of a stay-at-home order ‘is all that will be left’

The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 12,702 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 43 additional deaths Wednesday, the third day in a row with a record number of cases.

At a Thursday news conference, Gov. JB Pritzker implored residents to do everything possible to reduce the spread of COVID-19, even putting “some form” of a stay-at-home order on the table as an option.

"We're running out of time, and we're running out of options," Pritzker said. "Our growth in new cases is now exponential. We are seeing current numbers and future projections worse than what we saw in the spring."

According to the IDPH, the rolling seven-day positivity rate average in the state now is 12.6%.

Illinois now has seen 536,542 total cases of the virus, and 10,477 people have died. The state has conducted a total of 8,765,100 tests since the start of the pandemic.

As of late Wednesday, Illinois had 5,258 COVID-19 patients in the hospital, breaking a record set on Wednesday.

Of those, 956 COVID-19 patients were in intensive care units and 438 patients were on ventilators.

Overall in the state, there are 1,080 out of 3,764 intensive care unit beds and 4,152 out of 5,759 ventilators available in hospitals.

Pritzker again criticized local elected officials who have chosen to not enforce the state's enhanced mitigations.

"What will it take to make this real for you?," Pritzker said. "Do we have to reach a positivity rate of 50% like we're seeing in Iowa today? 50%? Are you waiting for health care workers to get sick to the point where you don't have enough staff in the hospital to cover the next shift?

"Because I promise you, while you failed to take responsibility in your city or your county, that day is coming closer, and it will be on you."

As to the specifics of what another stay-at-home order would look like, Pritzker said he was looking at all options but that it may be more targeted than the stay-at-home order in the spring.

The state currently uses a tiered system of mitigations, and all 11 of the health care regions are under some form of enhanced mitigations.

"We’re looking at all of the mitigations. We’re better at thinking about these. We know more about what works better, what doesn’t work as well," he said. "I promise you that if a decision gets made that we would do that, we would foreshadow it to understand it so that there’s enough time."

Regional update:

Additional restrictions, meant to stem the spread of COVID-19, can be placed on any of the state's 11 health regions if the region sustains an increase in its average positivity rate for seven days out of a 10-day period.

A region may also become more restrictive if there is a seven-day increase in hospital admissions for COVID-19-related illness or a reduction in hospital medical/surgical beds or ICU capacity below 20%. If a region reports three consecutive days with greater than an 8% average positivity rate, additional infection mitigation will be considered through a tiered system of restriction guidelines offered by the IDPH.

Currently, all 11 of the state's health regions are under additional mitigation measures from the IDPH.

Regional data from IDPH remains on a three-day lag.

The North Suburban region (McHenry and Lake counties) has seen 10 days of positivity increases and nine days of hospital admission increases. The region’s positivity rate increased from 14.5% to 15.3%.

Currently, 27% of medical/surgical beds are available and 44% of ICU beds in the region are available.

Region 9 (the North Suburban region) began tier one mitigation efforts on Oct. 31.

Within this region, McHenry County's seven-day positivity rate average has climbed to 20.9%. Lake County, which does about two-thirds of the testing in the region, is reporting a rolling average of 13.1%.

The West Suburban region (DuPage and Kane counties) has seen 10 days of positivity increases and seven days of hospital admission increases. The region’s positivity rate increased from 14.7% to 15.1%. Currently, 18% of medical/surgical beds are available and 33% of ICU beds.

The region (Region 8) currently is in tier 2 of the state's additional mitigation restrictions.

The South Suburban region (Will and Kankakee counties) has seen 10 days of positivity increases and eight days of hospital admission increases. The region’s positivity rate increased from 17.7% to 18.5%. Currently, 15% of the region’s medical/surgical beds are available and 21% of ICU beds are available. The region (Region 7) currently is in tier 2 of the state’s additional mitigation restrictions.

The North region (Boone, Carroll, DeKalb, Jo Daviess, Lee, Ogle, Stephenson, Whiteside and Winnebago counties) has seen nine days of positivity increases and nine days of hospital admission increases. The region's positivity rate increased from 18.3% to 18.9%.

Currently, 26% of medical/surgical beds are available and 36% of ICU beds.

The North-Central region (Bureau, Fulton, Grundy, Henderson, Henry, Kendall, Knox, La Salle, Livingston, Marshall, McDonough, McLean, Mercer, Peoria, Putnam, Rock Island, Stark, Tazewell, Warren and Woodford counties) has seen 10 days of positivity increases and eight days of hospital admission increases. The region's positivity rate increased from 14.6% to 15.1%.

Currently, 31% of both medical/surgical beds and ICU beds are available.

Chicago has seen 10 days of positivity increases and nine days of hospital admission increases. The region's positivity rate increased from 13.4% to 13.9%. Currently, 22% of medical/surgical beds are available and 28% of ICU beds.

Region 11 (the city of Chicago) began tier one of additional mitigations Oct. 30.

Suburban Cook County has seen seven days of positivity increases and seven days of hospital admission increases. The region's positivity rate increased from 13.2% to 13.7%. Currently, 19% of medical/surgical beds are available and 25% of ICU beds. The region (Region 10) is currently in tier one of the state's additional mitigation restrictions.

Newly reported deaths include:

• Adams County: 1 male 80s

• Brown County: 1 male 90s

• Bureau County: 1 male 90s

• Clinton County: 1 male 50s, 3 females 80s, 1 male 80s, 1 male 90s

• Cook County: 1 female 50s, 2 males 50s, 1 female 70s, 2 males 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s

• DeKalb County: 1 male 50s

• DuPage County: 1 male 70s, 2 males 80s

• Edwards County: 1 male 70s

• Fulton County: 1 male 70s

• Knox County: 1 male 80s

• Lake County: 1 male 70s, 2 females 80s

• La Salle County: 1 male 80s

• Macon County: 1 male 80s

• Montgomery County: 1 male 60s, 1 female 80s

• Morgan County: 1 male 50s

• Peoria County: 1 female 70s, 1 female 90s

• St. Clair County: 1 male 80s

• Tazewell County: 1 male 80s

• Vermilion County: 1 female 90s

• Wayne County: 1 male 80s

• Whiteside County: 1 male 40s, 1 female 70s, 1 female 80s

• Will County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 80s