Editorial: Coronavirus cases continue to rise

By Jessica Payne

            The coronavirus has a strong hold on the Sauk Valley area, with cases continuing to rise we need to take action by respecting the restrictions and mitigations but in place to try and slow the spread. 

            According to the New York Post, the Sterling area is currently ranked second in the nation for increased rate of infection, only coming in behind Minot, North Dakota. Per capita the Sterling regions has nearly a 50% increase in cases between the beginning of the week on October 24 and ending on October 31.

            These numbers do not reflect the increase that may happen due to Halloween celebrations of upcoming thanksgiving gatherings that will likely cause numbers to spike higher.

            While this virus affects primarily patients in the 50-59 age range according to KSB hospital there has been a significant rise in infection in all age groups.

            Region 1, which includes Boone, Carroll, DeKalb, Jo Daviess, Lee, Ogle, Stephenson, Whiteside and Winnebago counties has already been moved to tier two mitigations to help hinder spread of the virus, but the continual increase of cases indicate that this will not be enough.

            According to the CDC the positivity rate needed to roll the area back to tier one mitigations, which is our regular stage four, is a positivity rate of 6.5% over a three-day period. Region one’s positivity rate is currently 14.6% and has been steadily climbing.

            The only way we have a chance of slowing the spread of the virus is if we respect the protocells that have been put in place to protect us. Our current way of dealing with the virus has been proven again and again to be insufficient. There is no chance of stopping the virus now but we must do our best to soften the impact it has. 

Though it is a contentious subject, wearing a mask when you are unable to social distance has been proven time and time again to drastically decrease the spread of the virus.

             If changes aren’t made now cases will continue to rise. Illinois’ case numbers for October are the highest that they have been since May according to KSB, with 3,371 patients in the hospital and 722 of them in the intensive care unit.

            It is up to the citizens to do their part. If we don’t work to decrease our numbers now there will be much stricter mitigations in our future.