As part of his daily COVID-19 update press conference, Governor Pritzker and Dr. Ngozi Ezike announced the release of regional COVID-19 contact tracing data.
Outbreak Locations
The contact tracing data will be updated every Friday and includes categories like outbreak locations, exposure locations, school exposures, and school outbreaks for all 11 regions in Illinois.
The top four outbreak locations in Region 7, which includes Kankakee and Will counties are colleges/universities, food production facilities, factories, and public schools.
The top four outbreak locations in Region 8, which includes DuPage and Kane counties are factories, workplaces, behavioral/mental health facilities, and colleges/universities.
The state is hoping to add even more COVID-19 contact tracers to help track outbreaks and pinpoint their locations.
“We have a goal of about 3,800 [contact tracers] in total,” Pritzker stated. “We’re up to, statewide, when you include the paid tracers and then they have volunteers and alternates, we’re almost at 3,300. And many are in process of being hired.”
Addition of Probable Cases
The IDPH will now be including probable cases in addition to the confirmed cases. An additional 7,600 probable cases have been added to the IDPH total that date back to the start of the pandemic. The probable cases come from the increased use of antigen tests, which are not quite as sensitive as PCR tests.
Cases, Positivity Rates, Hospitalizations Still Rising
Governor Pritzker announced 10, 376 additional confirmed or probable cases in the past 24 hours and 49 deaths. The state also set a new record with 98,401 tests over that same time frame. The state positivity rate is now 9.6.
Region 7 announced a positivity rate of 14.2%, the 11th consecutive day with a positivity increase. Region 8 announced a positivity rate of 12.7%.
4,090 COVID patients are hospitalized across the state, the most since May 20th.
Hoping to Avoid Mitigations
Governor Pritzker expressed hope to avoid future mitigations after all 11 regions in Illinois have triggered enhanced mitigations including a ban on indoor dining for bars and restaurants.
The governor did indicate that further mitigations could be on the horizon in the coming weeks if the positivity rates, cases, and hospitalizations continue their upward trend.
