SPRINGFIELD – Governor Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) announced Friday that Region 4, the Metro East, will return to Phase 4 of the Restore Illinois Plan at 5 p.m.
Region 4, which includes Bond, Clinton, Madison, Monroe, Randolph, St. Clair and Washington counties, initially moved to stricter mitigations August 18, following three consecutive days of a rolling positivity rate above 8%.
On September 2, additional mitigations were implemented after the region increased its positivity rate to a 7-day rolling positivity rate of 9.6%.
While the rate of testing in Region 4 has remained relatively stable, the rolling average positivity rate in the region has fallen from a high of 10.5 percent on August 27, 2020 to a rate of 5.8 percent Friday.
The roll back is a result of close coordination between IDPH, local health departments, and community leaders encouraging proven and targeted mitigation efforts. As of Friday, Region 4 has reached the threshold to lift mitigations following three consecutive days of a rolling positivity rate below 6.5%. Therefore, indoor dining and bar service can resume along with larger gathering sizes as outlined in Phase 4 of the Restore Illinois plan.
IDPH will continue working closely with the region to prevent another spike in cases.