Illinois added nearly 22,000 new COVID cases over the past week, but statistics show the rate of growth continues to slow.
It's been a month since the number of new cases was below 25,000 - it topped 30,000 in early September. Other metrics are slowing, too - hospitalizations are below 2,000 for the first time since mid-August, and the overall positivity rate is 2.7%.
Regional positivity rates are down - Region 5, which includes all of southern Illinois, dropped nearly two percentage points to 8.4%. Region 4, which includes Randolph County and the Metro East, dropped to 5.3%. And Region 6, which covers east-central Illinois, dipped to 6.2%.
On a local level, vaccination rates across the WSIU listening area remain below the statewide average, but they are growing at a faster pace than the overall state. The statewide vaccination rate grew about a half percent over the last week, while southern Illinois' rate grew more than eight-tenths of a percent.
Neighboring states are seeing similar slowdowns in the growth of COVID cases. Still hospitals across the quad-state area are reporting high numbers of patients with COVID, and the vast majority of those are unvaccinated.
One data set that is still growing - deaths. Those are often considered a lagging indicator, and while the totals were nearly flat statewide, they were up to more than 60 people across the area this week.
