Burr Ridge Mayor Pens Daily Coronavirus Update

Press release from the Burr Ridge Police Department:

The new case count in Burr Ridge increased by six since Friday to 129, all on the DuPage side.
Fourteen days ago, there were 112 cases – 17 new cases in 14 days. This represents the median
amount of active cases over the past two weeks. Illinois continues to aggressively
test, now exceeding 40,000 people daily. The next 30 days will be informative as to Illinois’
reopening fate.

As I have reported, all of Burr Ridge, as a DuPage County municipality, is now within the new West
Suburban Region 8 that is comprised of only DuPage and Kane Counties. Overall, the
Governor has recreated eleven regions (expanded from the original four) around the
State. Chicago and Suburban Cook are separately their own regions. If there is a sustained increase in positivity in a 7-day rolling average (7 out of 10 days) over 8% AND a similar sustained
increase in Covid-19 hospital admissions OR substantial reduction in ICU capacity or med/surg. beds under 20%, there will be more restrictions imposed. Using these new metrics, the good news is that our new Region 8 rolling 7-day average positivity remains at 3.8% - far below the 8% threshold (remember, the threshold just in May was 20%). Hospital admissions remain stable at an average of 11 per day. Region 8 has 32% of its hospital beds and 48% of its ICU beds available – all strong indicators that tell us we are not seeing spikes in cases and hospitalizations.

That is not the case in Chicago, where today Mayor Lightfoot announced that, starting at 12:01am on Friday, July 24, bars may not serve alcohol indoors; party size at restaurants was reduced from 10 to 6; indoor fitness class size caps were reduced from 50 to 10; while personal services that require removal of face masks, such as facials, are not permitted. Vigilance is not an option – it is
compulsory. Please wear your masks and keep yourself, your loved ones and those around you in
public safe.

I again participated in the Monday call between the DuPage Board of Health (BOH) and mayors. The number of cases from ages 10-19 are up 18% and 20-29 are up 25% since June 23. Of note, the BOH discussed how a person who tests positive but is asymptomatic should assume they could spread the disease for up to 10 days since the date of the test or when they learned they encountered someone who was later determined to be positive for COVID-19.

Our fourth mask giveaway last Saturday was again successful, with over 1,500 masks provided to
residents. We have now given away over 12,000 masks at these events to date. If any resident at any time would like a few masks, they will be made available free of charge at Village Hall if you show an ID. Wearing a mask is protecting you and others, and the Village is committed to
protecting you and others. Mask for US.

Finally, we continue to hope that sanity emerges to stop the violence and loss of life that is now
a statistical “norm” in parts of Chicago on weekends. Friday evening through Sunday brought 71
shootings and 12 deaths according to the Tribune….

“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the
ranks of the insane.” – Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius

SOCIAL DISTANCING - ELBOW BUMPS - WEAR FACE COVERINGS

This press release was produced by the Burr Ridge Police Department. The views expressed here are the author’s own.