Rockford Numbers Close To A Relax Of Mitigations

Last week, Governor Pritzker announced that mitigation efforts in the state of Illinois could be relaxed starting this Friday, January 15th if numbers were trending in the right direction. 

We're only 3 days away, but it looks promising.

A quick refresher on the metrics being looked at:

• Positivity Rate - Must be less than 12% for three consecutive days.
• Hospital Bed Availability - More than 20% of hospital AND ICU beds must be available.
• Total Hospitalization - Hospitals must see declining hospitalization rates drop for 7 out of the last 10 days.

How does Rockford's region, Region 1, stack up? Pretty well. Here are Region 1's numbers as of Tuesday.

•  Positivity Rate - The three-day rolling rate currently sits at 9.1% and has been falling for the past three days.
• Hospital Bed Availability - Region 1 hospitals are reporting 28% of hospital beds and 25% of ICU beds currently being available.
• Total Hospitalization - This is where the Region falls short, but just barely. Region 1 has seen a decline in hospitalization in 6 of the last 10 days when they need 7.

The good news is that hospitalization rates have declined over the past 4 days and have only seen a few days of increased rates over the past month.

Again, a reminder that lifting mitigations from Tier 3 to Tier 2 doesn't mean that things will necessarily start to look normal. Bars and restaurants will still not be allowed indoor service. Gambling terminals will be allowed to reopen but that still won't really help local bars and restaurants. Please remember to support all our local establishments with carry-out orders.

It will be a benefit to other companies like indoor recreation facilities, theaters, and other retail stores.

We will get clearer answers on this subject when the deadline rolls around this Friday.