The Illinois Department of Public Health reported a single-day record 4,015 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 53 additional deaths Thursday.
The 4,015 new cases beat the previous single day total of 4,014 on May 12. On Sept. 4, IDPH reported 5,368 new cases of COVID-19 after a slowdown in data processing delayed reporting of some additional aggregate numbers.
The seven-day rolling average of Illinois’ positivity rate went up to 4.9%. The state received the results of 67,086 COVID-19 tests in the 24 hours leading up to Thursday afternoon.
IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike announced Wednesday that the IDPH will begin reporting COVID-19 test metrics of both molecular and antigen tests, rather than just focusing on the more commonly used molecular test data as it had before. Both testing methods are designed to diagnose COVID-19, not to be confused with antibody tests that look for previous infection.
“Antigen tests thus far have comprised less than 1% of all tests performed to date,” she said. “But with more rapid antigen tests being deployed to the states from the federal government and other sources … we will see the number of antigen tests increase.”
Illinois now has seen 331,620 total cases of the virus, and 9,127 people have died. The state has conducted a total of 6,531,009 tests since the start of the pandemic.
As of late Wednesday, Illinois had 1,932 COVID-19 patients in the hospital. Of those, 388 were in intensive care units, and 147 were on ventilators.
Regional update: Additional restrictions can be placed on any of the state’s 11 health regions if the region sustains an increase in its average positivity rate for seven days out of a 10-day period.
A region may also become more restrictive if there is a seven-day increase in hospital admissions for COVID-19-related illness or a reduction in hospital medical/surgical beds or ICU capacity below 20%. If a region reports three consecutive days with greater than an 8% average positivity rate, additional infection mitigation will be considered through a tiered system of restriction guidelines offered by the IDPH.
The North Suburban region (McHenry and Lake counties) has seen six days of positivity increases and six days of hospital admission increases. The region’s positivity rate increased to 6.3%. Currently, 36% of medical/surgical beds are available and 51% of ICU beds.
Regional data from IDPH remains on a three-day lag, but within this region, McHenry County’s seven-day positivity rate average has now climbed to 8.4%. Lake County, which does about two-thirds of the testing in the region, is reporting a rolling average of 5.6%.
The West Suburban region (DuPage and Kane counties) has seen eight days of positivity increases – meeting one criteria for stricter mitigation measures – and four days of hospital admission increases. The region’s positivity rate increased from 6.7% to 7.0%. Currently, 31% of medical/surgical beds are available and 46% of ICU beds.
Within this region, Kane County’s rolling seven-day positivity average is now 8.1%. It has turned in back-to-back single-day positivity rates above 10%.
The South Suburban region (Will and Kankakee counties) has seen seven days of positivity increases – meeting one data point for extra mitigations – and six days of hospital admission increases. The region’s positivity rate increased from 6.3 to 6.6%. Currently, 29% of the region’s medical/surgical beds are available and 29% of ICU beds.
The North region (Boone, Carroll, DeKalb, Jo Daviess, Lee, Ogle, Stephenson, Whiteside and Winnebago counties) has seen seven days of positivity increases and three days of hospital admission increases. The region’s positivity rate increased from 10.1% to 10.3%, still the highest rate of any of the state’s 11 regions. Currently, 34% of medical/surgical beds are available and 40% of ICU beds.
The North region (Region 1) is under additional COVID-19 mitigation measures from the IDPH as of Saturday, Oct. 3. If Region 1 continues to report positivity rates above 8%, further mitigation efforts may be taken. To return to the standard Phase 4 restrictions, the region will need to maintain an average positivity rate of less than or equal to 6.5% over a 14-day period.
The region’s counties that are reporting the highest positivity rates are Jo Daviess (12%), Winnebago (11.4%), Lee (10.9%), and Boone (10.7%). DeKalb County’s positivity rate fell to 8.5%, while Whiteside County’s fell to 9.6%.
The North-Central region (Bureau, Fulton, Grundy, Henderson, Henry, Kendall, Knox, La Salle, Livingston, Marshall, McDonough, McLean, Mercer, Peoria, Putnam, Rock Island, Stark, Tazewell, Warren and Woodford counties) has seen four days of positivity increases and two days of hospital admission increases. The region’s positivity rate remained flat at 5.6%. Currently, 36% of medical/surgical beds are available and 41% of ICU beds.
Chicago has seen five days of positivity increases and six days of hospital admission increases. The region’s positivity rate increased from 4.9% to 5.2%. Currently, 25% of medical/surgical beds are available and 32% of ICU beds.
Suburban Cook County has seen seven days of positivity increases – meeting one data point for enhanced mitigations – and six days of hospital admission increases. The region’s positivity rate increased from 5.9% to 6.2%. Currently, 24% of medical/surgical beds are available and 31% of ICU beds.
To see how other regions across the state are doing, see the full IDPH dashboard here.
Newly reported deaths include:
• Adams County: 1 female 80s
• Bureau County: 1 male 70s
• Carroll County: 1 female 70s
• Champaign County: 1 female 60s
• Christian County: 1 female 60s
• Clark County: 1 male 70s, 1 female 90s
• Clay County: 1 male 70s, 2 females 80
• Cook County: 1 male 60s, 1 female 70s, 3 males 70s, 3 females 80s, 1 male 80s, 2 males 90s
• DuPage County: 1 female 60s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s
• Fayette County: 1 male 80s
• Jackson County: 1 female 70s
• Jefferson County: 1 female 90s
• Kane County: 2 males 80s
• Kendall County: 1 male 60s
• Knox County: 1 male 20s
• Lawrence County: 1 male 80s
• Marion County: 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s
• McLean County: 1 male 60s
• Moultrie County: 1 male 70s
• Peoria County: 1 female 90s
• Richland County: 1 female 60s
• Rock Island County: 1 female 70s
• Saline County: 1 female 70s
• Shelby County: 1 male 70s
• St. Clair County: 1 female 80s
• Tazewell County: 1 female 70s
• Wabash County: 1 female 60s
• Wayne County: 1 male 70s
• Will County: 1 male 50s, 1 male 70s, 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s
• Winnebago County: 1 male 80s, 1 male 90s
Source: The Daily Chronicle
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