Will County’s COVID-19 test positivity falls to lowest rate since July

More than 22,000 people have been fully vaccinated in Will County

Will County’s COVID-19 test positivity rate has fallen to the lowest it’s been since last summer.

The county’s rolling average test positivity rate stood at 4.7% as of Feb. 16, according to the latest data from the Illinois Department of Public Health.

The positivity rate in Will County has fallen steadily over the last several weeks after surging in the fall.

It hans’t been since mid-July that the county’s positivity rate fell below 5%.

The South Suburban Region, which includes Will and Kankakee counties, also saw its positivity rate fall below 5% to 4.5% as of Feb. 16, per the IDPH. The region also hasn’t seen a test positivity rate under 5% since last July.

The hospital bed capacity remains at adequate levels in the region as well.

As of Thursday, the region’s ICU utilization stood at 75%. Out of 162 adequately staffed and equipped ICU beds in the region, 41 were available.

Vaccinations continue to progress at a slow pace with more than 87,000 shots administered in Will County as of Friday, according to the IDPH.

More than 22,000 people in the county have been fully vaccinated. That number represents just 3.25% of the county’s 692,000 residents.

The Will County Health Department said this week it’s starting to get better projections of what vaccine shipments it will receive.

Still, projections remain disappointingly low for Will County.

The Will County Board also voted to allocate $3 million this week for the health department to hire staff and purchase supplies for its vaccination efforts.