A recent rise in the number of COVID cases in Illinois continued unabated this week, as the state has seen new cases of the virus increase by more than 40%.
According to the latest data from the Illinois Department of Public Health, the state is seeing an average of 3,136 new cases per day over the last seven days. That represents an increase of 43.1% in the last week, bumping upward from 2,191 cases per day as of last Monday.
Over the last month, daily case rates in the state have increased by 170%, according to IDPH data.
While hospitalizations had largely been flat in the state earlier this month, those rates have begun to increase as well. As of Monday, there are 688 hospitalized patients in the state that have tested positive for COVID-19. Of those, 77 are in intensive care unit beds, according to officials.
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While the total number of hospitalized patients represents just 3% of the state’s available hospital beds, it still represents a 21% increase in hospitalizations over the last seven days.
Those increases are being felt especially hard in Region 5, a cluster of 20 counties in the southern tip of Illinois. There, seven ICU beds out of 84 are currently available, according to IDPH data.
The state is averaging nine fatalities a day related to COVID, a slight increase from the previous week but still below the average of 15 deaths a day that was reported one month ago.
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Over the last seven days, the state is averaging 17,515 COVID vaccinations per day, with more than 21.8 million doses administered during the pandemic.
Approximately 72.8% of the state’s eligible population of residents age 5 and older are fully vaccinated against COVID, while 81.3% of those residents have received at least one dose. Nearly 4.4 million residents have received their booster shots, according to IDPH data.
