Will County to Stay In Current COVID-19 Mitigation Tier

Governor Pritzker and IDPH first announced the Resurgence Mitigation Plan on July 15, 2020, taking a regional approach to suppress the spread of the virus. After a wave of COVID-19 surged across Illinois and the nation last fall, all 11 of the Restore Illinois regions moved into Tier 3 mitigations on November 20, 2020. The state was able to bring down rates of community spread, allowing for three regions to once again move forward in the state’s mitigations plan effective January 15.

As of today, regions that will move into Tie 2 include:

Tier 2

Region 1 – North
Boone, Carroll, DeKalb, Jo Daviess, Lee, Ogle, Stephenson, Whiteside, Winnebago

Region 2 – North-Central
Bureau, Fulton, Grundy, Henderson, Henry, Kendall, Knox, La Salle, Livingston, Marshall, McDonough, McLean, Mercer, Peoria, Putnam, Rock Island, Stark, Tazewell, Warren, Woodford

Region 5 – Southern
Alexander, Edwards, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Marion, Massac, Perry, Pope, Pulaski, Saline, Union, Wabash, Wayne, White, Williamson

At this time, Regions 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 will remain in Tier 3 Mitigations, with several likely to meet the metrics to move to Tier 2 in the coming days if current trends hold. Will County is in Region 7 of the Resurgence Mitigation Plan.

In order to move to Tier 2 mitigations, a region must meet the following metrics:

A test positivity rate below 12 percent for three consecutive days, as measured by the 7-day rolling average; AND Greater than or equal to 20 percent available staffed ICU and medical/surgical hospital beds for three consecutive days, on a 3-day rolling average; AND A sustained decrease in the number of people in the hospital with COVID-19 for seven out of 10 days, on a 7-day average.