COVID-19 hospitalizations and positivity rates continued on a steady decline in Illinois on Feb. 1 as the state reported just 16 virus-related deaths over the previous 24 hours.
Daily death counts fluctuate significantly and are generally lower on Mondays than the rest of the week, but the 16 deaths – recorded in people from their 40s to their 90s – marked the lowest one-day total since Nov. 9, 2020. It followed death counts of 40 and 65 the previous two days.
The state’s rolling seven-day average case positivity rate also dipped below 4 percent over the weekend for the first time since Oct. 9, sitting at 3.9 percent as of Monday. It has been declining steadily since hitting 8.6 percent on Jan. 4.
Locally, the rate of new COVID-19 cases has also continued to ebb, particularly in Brookfield. According to the Cook County Department of Public Health, the “recent percent change” in new cases reported Feb. 1 for the most recent two-week period fell by 47 percent compared to the preceding 14-day period.
As of the morning of Feb. 2, there were just 34 new confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 reported for the prior week in Brookfield. As recently as Jan. 11, the weekly total reached 82 new cases.
The Cook County Medical Examiner did not report any more Brookfield residents as having died from COVID-19 in the past week. The village’s total since the medical examiner started tracking those records last March remains at 12.
New cases of COVID-19 also remained low in Riverside and North Riverside for the week-long period ending on the morning of Feb. 2, with 16 and 13 new cases reported, respectively, and no additional deaths. Three Riverside and three North Riverside residents have succumbed to COVID-19.
Since the pandemic swept into the rear last March, a total of 1,556 residents of Brookfield had contracted COVID-19 as of the morning of Feb. 2, along with 782 Riverside residents and 479 North Riverside residents.
Suburban Cook looks to Phase 4
As of Feb. 1, seven of the state’s 11 COVID-19 mitigation regions – Regions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 11 – had moved into Phase 4 restrictions, meaning indoor dining and competitive high school sports are allowed.
Region 10, which includes all of suburban Cook County, expected to join them on Feb. 2 after the Landmark’s press time, if all trends continued in the region, according to the state.
Regions 8 and 9, which include Kane and DuPage counties and Lake and McHenry counties, respectively, remained in Tier 1 restrictions as of Monday, meaning indoor dining was allowed in a limited capacity.
Both saw their first day of positivity rates at 6.5 percent or below – a metric that would allow them to move to Phase 4 in two more days if they meet the three consecutive day threshold.
Jerry Nowicki of Capitol News Illinois contributed to this report.
