CHICAGO — Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday warned that the Metro East health care region containing Clinton and Washington counties is “dangerously close” to seeing more restrictions put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Region 4 includes Bond, Clinton, Madison, Monroe, Randolph, St. Clair and Washington counties and as of Tuesday had a 7.1 percent rolling seven-day average positivity rate compared to the state’s overall 3.1 percent, said Pritzker.

He added that the other 10 regions in the state have a positivity rate below 5 percent.

If a region hits three consecutive days of an 8 percent average positivity rate or sees a sustained increase in both positivity rate and hospital admissions, additional mitigations will automatically be put in place, state health officials said.

Pritzker said Wednesday the state will take immediate action to impose additional mitigations if a region crosses above the metrics they set, and Metro East is coming dangerously close to that.

Some residents of Region 4 travel frequently into Missouri, state health officials said, noting that the state has less stringent mitigation measures in place and an overall higher positivity rate than Illinois.