Quad-Cities Covid Numbers Continue To Skyrocket Over Weekend, State Shutdown Looming
A new shutdown and restrictions could be coming this week as covid numbers continued to skyrocket in the Illinois and Iowa Quad-Cities and their respective regions and states over the weekend.
The Illinois Quad-Cities’ region’s positive testing number roared to almost 15 percent (at 14.6), as all regions in the state moved over the 12 percent positivity rate, triggering numbers Governor JB Pritzker said could lead to a lockdown, especially with the Thanksgiving holiday looming.
On Nov. 15, the Rock Island County Health Department reported 104 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number to 6,709. Currently, 58 patients are hospitalized in the county. The death toll from the virus remains at 115.
The Quad-Cities has exploded into the top 10 worst covid outbreak spots in the nation, according to data from the CDC, the New York Times reported.
The Quad-Cities is now among the top 10 hot spots in the United States for covid-19 spikes. (Graphic from New York Times/CDC data)
According to the data, the Illinois/Iowa Quad-Cities is now inside the top ten most rapidly spiking hot spots nationwide, roaring from number 13 to number 7 in just two days.
Illinois and Iowa hold 12 of the top 15 spots in the country, with Cedar Rapids holding at number one.
In his media address Friday, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said that the rapidly spiking numbers statewide — with numbers in some regions doubling daily — could lead to another statewide mandatory stay-at-home order similar to the one imposed in the spring, and that he would
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
make a determination “in the coming days.”
Illinois reported 10,631 new cases of COVID-19 and 72 additional deaths on Sunday. The total number of cases is 573, 616 since the pandemic started and the number of deaths statewide is now 10,742.
“If things don’t take a turn in the coming days we will quickly reach the point when some form of a mandatory stay at home order is all that will be left,” Pritzker said in his media address Friday. “With every fiber of my being, I do not want us to get there. But right now that seems like where we are heading.”
On Thursday, the mayor of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot ordered city residents to stay at home and not have visitors for 30 days. She said Chicagoans should not leave their homes except to attend school, seek medical care, shop for groceries, pick up takeout food and go to work. However, she also encouraged employers to allow their employees to work from home whenever possible.
Pritzker blamed the out-of-control numbers on people and community leaders ignoring doctor-recommended mitigations. His counterpart on the Iowa side of the Quad-Cities concurred in her address to the media yesterday, noting that the Iowa side of the Q-Cs may be headed for a similar situation, and enacting new state mandates of her own.
Last week, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds enacted a number of mask and social distancing mandates to curb the spread of covid-19, as the rising number of Quad-Cities covid-19 cases put it near the top 10 worst covid hot spots in the United States, and other Iowa communities already fill the top 10.
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