SPRINGFIELD (WSIL) -- The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) says 28 counties in the state are at a "warning level" for COVID-19.
According to IDPH, a county enters a warning level when it experiences an increase in two or more risk indicators from the state’s COVID-19 Resurgence Mitigation plan.
The 28 Illinois counties at a warning level on Friday, Oct. 2 were:
- Bond
- Boone
- Brown
- Calhoun
- Christian
- Clinton
- Coles
- Crawford
- DeKalb
- DeWitt
- Fayette
- Greene
- Hancock
- Jasper
- Lee
- Livingston
- Macon
- Massac
- Monroe
- Morgan
- Pulaski
- Putnam
- Richland
- Saline
- St. Clair
- Wabash
- Washington
- Winnebago
This is the first time Massac County has appeared on the IDPH's warning level list. Pulaski County previously appeared on the list twice in early September.
"Although the reasons for counties reaching a warning level varies, some of the common factors for an increase in cases and outbreaks are associated with university and college parties as well as college sports teams, large gatherings and events, bars and clubs, weddings and funerals, family gatherings, long-term care facilities, correctional centers, schools, and cases among the community at large, especially people in their 20s," said a release Friday from the Illinois Department of Public Health.
On Friday, IDPH announced 2,206 new confirmed cases of coronavirus COVID-19 in the state, including 47 additional confirmed deaths.
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 297,646 cases of COVID-19, including 8,743 deaths, in Illinois.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity rate for September 25 � October 1 is 3.4%.
According to IDPH, the positivity rate for  as of Sept. 29 was 5.6%
