Illinois health officials report 3.8K new COVID cases as WHO ends global health emergency

Meredith Howard
·4 min read
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All Illinois counties were at low COVID-19 community levels in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest update Thursday as the World Health Organization declared the end of the COVID-19 global health emergency.

In Missouri, all counties except one were at a low level. Oregon County was at a medium level, according to the CDC.

The community levels are updated Thursdays and are based on metrics from the past seven days, including new hospital admissions per 100,000 people, average percent of staffed, inpatient beds occupied by COVID patients and new cases per 100,000 people.

People in high-level areas are advised to wear a mask indoors and on public transportation, and the federal agency says people at a higher risk of severe illness should consider precautions in medium-level areas.

May 11 will be the last CDC update on COVID-19 community levels, though federal data will still be available through several channels. Additionally, the Illinois Department of Public Health will continue reporting weekly numbers for cases, hospitalizations, deaths and vaccinations.

The Illinois health agency reported 3,850 new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases and five deaths for the week ending April 30.

Federal health authorities report all Illinois counties are at a low COVID-19 community level as of May 4, 2023.
Federal health authorities report all Illinois counties are at a low COVID-19 community level as of May 4, 2023.

Global health emergency ends

The WHO declared the end of the COVID-19 global health emergency Friday, more than three years after instating it. The national public health emergency in the U.S. is set to end May 11, the CDC reports. Illinois’ statewide disaster declaration will end the same day.

COVID-19 has killed more than 6.9 million people across the globe, according to the WHO, and the actual death toll is thought to be much higher than the official count.

In Illinois, the state health department has reported 4,135,808 cases and 36,850 COVID-19 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Sameer Vohra wrote in a May 5 press release he “welcomed” the end of the global health emergency.

“We want the public to know that due to changes in federal reporting requirements some of the COVID-19 data that we have been collecting will change after May 11,” Vohra said in the release. “However, IDPH will still have reliable methods for tracking COVID-19 in Illinois. IDPH will continue its focus on protecting the public from COVID-19, especially those individuals who are vulnerable to serious illness. With the World Health Organization’s news today of the end of the global health emergency, as well as the national public health emergency and statewide disaster declarations ending in less than a week, it is very good news that cases remain low. All counties in Illinois are now at Low Community Level for COVID-19 and this marks the seventh straight week with zero counties at a high COVID-19 community level.”

State health department officials said in an April 28 press release the emergencies’ expiration may affect coverage for COVID-19 testing, especially for at-home options.

Many health insurance plans will likely still cover vaccines and treatments like Paxlovid, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has announced a program for people who are uninsured to maintain access to COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.

COVID-19 in St. Clair County, across Illinois

St. Clair County’s weekly COVID-19 case rate is at 21.95 per 100,000 people, according to the CDC. The county saw 2.5 new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 residents, and 1.5% of St. Clair’s staffed inpatient beds are in use by patients with confirmed COVID-19.

There are 93 intensive care unit beds in southwestern Illinois, the state health department reports, and seven of them were available as of Thursday night. The region has 145 ventilators, and 131 were available Thursday.

Test positivity was less than 1% in St. Clair County as of May 1, and the rate of tests performed was down 17.52% as of April 27, according to the CDC.

As of Thursday night, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported 404 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in the state, including 46 ICU patients and 25 people on ventilators.

Information about vaccination and testing is available online in St. Clair County.

Note: Some CDC data, such as test positivity rates, the number of tests performed and weekly case rate, update on different days. IDPH data and CDC data may not update at the same time, so metrics may vary across agencies.