CHICAGO (WBBMNEWSRADIO) -- The White House coronavirus response coordinator was in Chicago on Tuesday talking about the need for Illinoisans to get more serious about COVID-19 and ways to prevent its spread.
Dr. Deborah Birx met with state and local health officials at Rush University Medical Center. Afterwards, the White House coronavirus response coordinator talked about the growing coronavirus test positivity rate, especially among rural counties.
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She pointed out that rural counties in Illinois are really getting hit now, as if it’s a story of two states with a constant low-grade community infection rate in the Chicago metro area.
"When we see those rural counties move into the five percent range and continue to increase, it's really an alert to every rural community that you need to take the same precautions that the urban communities are taking," she said.
The Illinois Department of Public Health said more than 60 of the state’s 102 counties are seeing coronavirus positivity test rates at five percent or higher, with 10 of those counties seeing positive COVID-19 tests at 10 percent or higher. And especially with the Labor Day weekend coming up, White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said people need to buckle down.
"There's a path forward that we can follow that can really decrease the number of cases by ensuring that we wear masks, but the social distancing piece can't just be around people that we don't know, it has to be around people that we do know," she said.