State reports another 828 COVID-19 cases among 33K tested


The graph shows the number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported each day by the Illinois Department of Public Health. (Credit: Jerry Nowicki of Capitol News Illinois)

The graph shows the number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported each day by the Illinois Department of Public Health. (Credit: Jerry Nowicki of Capitol News Illinois)

Positivity rate, hospitalizations remain roughly flat

By JERRY NOWICKI
Capitol News Illinois
[email protected]

SPRIGNFIELD — Illinois announced another 828 confirmed cases of COVID-19 Wednesday among 33,090 tests completed for a one-day positivity rate of 2.5 percent.

The new cases mark the third time the state has reported more than 800 new cases in the last seven days after 17 days of staying below that bench mark.

The state also continues to increase testing capacity, setting a one-day record with Wednesday’s output and topping more than 30,000 tests for five of the last seven days.

The seven-day rolling positivity rate for those tested remained at 2.6 percent as the Illinois Department of Public Health announced another 30 deaths Wednesday, bringing total casualties since the pandemic reached Illinois to 6,951.

There have been 144,013 total confirmed cases of the virus in Illinois since the pandemic began, and 1.63 million tests have been completed in the state.

Hospitalizations remained relatively flat as well, with the total number of COVID-19 patients occupying a hospital bed falling to 1,511 — a decrease of 49 from the day prior. That left about 41 percent of the state’s total hospital supply open.

Intensive care unit beds in use by COVID-19 patient fell to 384 as of 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, a decrease of 17 from the previous day. That made 47 percent of beds in the state available.

The number of ventilators in use by COVID-19 patients sat at 189, an increase of four from the day prior. There were more than 4,439 ventilators available as of 11:59 p.m. Tuesday.

According to the state’s county-level metrics reported by IDPH, only Cass County was in the “warning” category in terms of potential heavy increase of cases. Those metrics track eight statistics, including deaths, positivity percentage of tests, number of tests, emergency room visits and hospitalizations for COVID-19 and the percentage of ICU beds available.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government and distributed to more than 400 newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.