COVID cases on rise in S. Illinois

With the delta variant of the COVID-19 virus spreading in Southwest Missouri and surrounding areas, the state has the second highest new case rate in the nation per 100,000 people as of Friday, right behind Arkansas.

While the Southeast Missouri region is seeing relatively low case levels, across the Mississippi River in Southern Illinois is a different story.

In a Facebook post Friday, the Southern Seven Health Department announced cases in the region are on the rise and the Illinois Department of Public Health announced Massac County will move into an orange warning level on the coronavirus disease risk metrics.

“While numbers are lower than what we were seeing at the height of the pandemic, the fact that we’re seeing this rapid increase in new COVID-19 cases across the Southern Seven region is a troubling sign, especially with the large amount of people who have chosen to not get vaccinated,” said Nathan Ryder, outreach coordinator for Southern Seven’s Contact Tracing Team, in the post. “Massac County isn’t alone in the rising number of positive COVID-19 cases. We’ve been seeing these new positive cases growing for the past three weeks.”

The Southern Seven Health Department posts a weekly report of COVID-19 cases, and about five weeks ago, on June 10, there were zero newly confirmed cases. Each following report increased and their most recent weekly report Friday announced 66 newly confirmed cases.

Thirty-three, or half, of those cases are in Union County; 11 cases are in Johnson County; nine in Massac County; eight in Pulaski County; three in Alexander County; and Hardin and Pope counties each have one case.

The average of individuals totally vaccinated in the region is about 26%.

Southeast Missouri

Listed below are the number of active COVID-19 cases reported per county in Southeast Missouri in the last sever days according to www.health.mo.gov.

Cape Girardeau County — 29 confirmed cases, daily average of four

Scott County — 24 confirmed cases, daily average of three

Perry County — eight confirmed cases, daily average of one

Stoddard County — 41 confirmed cases, daily average of six

Bollinger County — zero confirmed cases

Reporter Brooke Holford contributed to this story.