Positivity rate for COVID-19 drops for 5 straight days in Region 1

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WREX) — The positivity rate for COVID-19 continues to drop in Region 1.

The region has seen its positivity rate for the virus drop for five straight days in Region 1 now, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Starting this Friday, Jan. 15, regions across the state that meet the state's requirements and get state approval, can move out of tier 3 mitigations.

In order for a region to move back to Tier 2 mitigations, a region must experience less than 12 percent test positivity rate for three consecutive days AND greater than 20 percent available intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital bed availability AND declining COVID hospitalizations in 7 out of the last 10 days.

RELATED: Winnebago County could move to next phase of vaccination plan in just days

The Illinois Department of Public Health will then classify a region under tier 2, tier 1 or Phase 4, depending on what their metrics say.

Here's a look at the metrics for Region 1 sit as of Thursday, per IDPH:

Positivity Rate

As mentioned above, the region's seven-day rolling positivity rate fell once again and is now at 8.5%. The last time the positivity rate was at 8.5% or below was on Oct. 3, 2020.

Hospital Bed Availability

The region continues to have more than 20% of hospital beds available. For ICU beds, the region has 25.1% of beds available and for med/surg beds available, the region has 25.7% beds available.

Both of those numbers are as of Jan. 13.

COVID-19 Hospitalizations

The region has seen a decrease of COVID-19 hospitalizations for 7 of the past 10 days, including 6 consecutive days of a decrease.

Meanwhile, the state reported 6,652 new confirmed and probable cases of the virus along with 88 more deaths on Thursday.

RELATED: Mayor: Chicago opening 6 mass COVID-19 vaccination sites

Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,052,682 cases, including 17,928 deaths since the pandemic started.

Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 118,036 specimens for a total 14,457,620.  As of last night, 3,511 in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 742 patients were in the ICU and 382 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.

Coronavirus Resources

• Click here for the latest CDC novel coronavirus resources and links.
• Track the COVID-19 globally using this map tracker here.
• Click here for the latest information from the Illinois Department of Public Health.
• Need to get tested? Here's a list of mobile testing sites provided by the state.
• Looking for more information on the COVID-19 vaccine? Click here.
• You can get the latest coverage from 13 WREX here.