Will County’s COVID-19 test positivity rate falls to about 1%

Local transmission of the novel coronavirus has continued to decrease over the past week.

As of earlier this week, the rolling average COVID-19 test positivity rate in Will County was 1.1%, according to Illinois Department of Public Health data.

The IDPH also reported that the South Suburban Region, which includes Will and Kankakee counties, had a positivity rate of 1.2%.

After vaccines became more widely available in the state and county, including to children as young as 12 years old, the county has seen its test positivity rate drop to the lowest numbers the state has recorded since the start of the pandemic. Just a month ago, the positivity rate stood at 3.6%.

It’s a dramatic improvement from when the county saw a high positivity rate of about 20% in the late fall and early winter.

As of Wednesday, there was a rolling average of 26 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in the South Suburban Region, down significantly from last month. On May 18, there was a rolling average of 82 COVID-19 patients in hospital in the region, according to the IDPH.

Vaccinations are also still taking place in Will County with about 2,600 shots being administered per day, the IDPH reported. As of Thursday, just over 45% of the county’s over 690,000 residents were fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

The Will County Health Department has said it’s winding down its mass vaccination sites in favor of smaller, pop-up clinics at schools, places of worships and community events.

For more information, visit willcountyhealth.org.