Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike urged anyone who recently attended rallies, protests or other mass gatherings to get tested for COVID-19 five to seven days after participating, or immediately if symptoms develop.
“As people gather in large crowds with varying degrees of social distancing, there is cause for concern about COVID-19 spread and outbreaks, especially if masks were not worn universally,” Ezike said in a news release.
IDPH announced 116 more deaths from COVID-19 on Thursday and confirmed another 929 new cases of the coronavirus.
Illinois has now seen 124,759 cases of the virus and 5,736 people have died since the pandemic began. A total of 982,016 people have been tested. The state has a seven-day rolling positivity rate of 6%.
As of late Wednesday night, Illinois had 3,044 COVID-19 patients in the hospital. Of those, 853 were in the ICU and 516 were on ventilators.
Additionally, IDPH announced it is expanding the criteria to get tested at state-run drive-thru testing sites. Anyone can now receive a test, regardless of symptoms. No appointment, doctor referral or insurance will be needed, and testing comes at no cost.
“As we move forward, COVID-19 testing must be widely available and this is a step in that direction,” said Illinois Emergency Management Agency Director Alicia Tate-Nadeau. “The state-operated community-based testing sites currently have the capacity to test more than 6,000 people per day, and now there will be no restrictions to who can be tested for this potentially deadly virus.”
Regional update: As of Wednesday, the Northeast region (Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, McHenry, Lake and Will counties) reported a positivity rate average of 11%. The region reported an average of 30% of medical/surgical beds available, 36% of ICU beds available and 70% of ventilators available.
The North Central region (Bureau, DeKalb, La Salle, Lee, Ogle, Whiteside, Carroll, Boone, Winnebago, Stephenson, Putnam and Jo Daviess counties) reported a positivity rate rolling average of 6%. On average, the region has enough medical/surgical beds to accommodate a 45% surge in COVID-19 cases. The region reported that 47% of ICU beds are available and 69% of ventilators are available.
The Central region reported an average positivity rate of 2%. On average, there was an availability of 46% of medical/surgical beds, 50% of ICU beds and 79% of ventilators.
The Southern region had an average positivity rate of 5%. On average, there was an availability of 46% of medical/surgical beds, 45% of ICU beds and 79% of ventilators.
Threshold to move into Phase 4: In order to move into Phase 4 of the Restore Illinois plan, each of the state’s health regions must ensure that testing is available in the region regardless of symptoms or risk factors.
Testing also needed to be made available to the residents and staff of congregate living facilities, according to the plan. A system for COVID-19 contact tracing and monitoring must be in place and able to respond 24 hours after diagnosis.
In addition to these requirements, each region must report an average positivity rate of 20% or lower, increasing no more than 10 percentage points over a 14-day period.
Regions also must report no overall increase in hospital admissions for COVID-19 for a period of 28 days, meaning hospitalizations must decrease or remain stable.
Finally, each region must prove available surge capacity of at least 14% of ICU beds, medical/surgical beds and ventilators.
Contact tracing and monitoring within 24 hours of diagnosis for more than 90% of cases in region must be met in order to advance to Phase 4.
Newly reported deaths:
– Coles County: 1 female 80s
– Cook County: 1 female 40s, 2 males 40s, 1 female 50s, 1 male 50s, 5 females 60s, 10 males 60s, 10 females 70s, 9 males 70s, 9 females 80s, 9 males 80s, 5 females 90s, 3 males 90s, 1 female 100+
– DeKalb County: 1 female 60s, 1 female 90s
– DuPage County: 1 male 50s, 1 male 60s, 2 females 70s, 2 males 70s, 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s, 1 male 90s
– Jo Daviess County: 1 male 50s
– Kane County: 2 males 50s, 1 male 60s, 1 female 80s, 1 female 100+
– Kankakee County: 2 males 90s
– Lake County: 2 males 50s, 2 males 60s, 2 females 70s, 3 females 80s, 4 males 80s, 1 female 90s, 1 male 90s
– La Salle County: 2 males 70s
– Macon County: 1 female 80s
– Madison County: 1 male 60s
– McDonough County: 1 female 80s
– St. Clair County: 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s
– Union County: 1 female 70s
– Will County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 80s
– Williamson County: 1 female 80s
– Winnebago County: 1 female 50s, 1 female 60s, 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s
Source: The Daily Chronicle
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