Illinois COVID Update: IL reports 3,340 new cases, 5 deaths

CHICAGO (WLS) — Illinois reported 3,340 new COVID cases and five related deaths Thursday.

There have been at least 3,092,065 total COVID cases, including at least 33,504 related deaths in the state since the pandemic began.

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In the last seven days, there have been 15.6 new COVID cases per 100,000 people across the state. Statewide test positivity data are no longer being reported by the state.

As of Wednesday night, 496 patients in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 69 patients were in the ICU, and 47 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.

IDPH reports a seven-day average of 38 COVID-19 hospital admissions and an ICU availability of 22%.

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A total of 21,626,218 vaccine doses have been administered in Illinois as of Wednesday, and 64.56% of the state’s population is fully vaccinated. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 19,827.

IDPH also announced changes Tuesday in the way it reports COVID-19 data to be in line with federal guidelines.

Some familiar metrics, including test positivity and case positivity rates, will no longer be reported. It’s partly because labs no longer have to report negative antigen tests, and also because of the widespread use of home tests impacting test data.
And so in line with federal guidelines, three main metrics will be used to assess community transmission:

1) New COVID cases per 100,000 people in the past 7 days

2) New hospital admissions per 100,000 in the past 7 days
3) Percentage of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients

Based on those metrics, officials would recommend increased vaccination for a community in the low transmission category. A medium transmission category would prompt a mask recommendation for seniors and people with underlying conditions. And if a community is in high transmission, masking will be recommended for everyone in indoor public spaces.

“The CDC is actually moving away from just looking at COVID as a weather report, so to speak, and looking at it more in terms of how does it really impact our hospital systems,” said IDPH’s Dr. Arti Barnes.