New COVID cases and hospitalizations continued their recent downward trends on Thursday, as health officials reported more than 14,000 new cases of the virus.
According to the latest data from the Illinois Department of Public Health, a total of 14,422 new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases were reported statewide in the last 24 hours.
The state’s daily average of new COVID cases over the last week fell to 21,286 on Thursday, the lowest it has been since Jan. 1. The average number of daily cases, which peaked at 32,501 on Jan. 12, has decreased by 34.5% in that time.
Health officials say that 4,824 patients have tested positive for COVID-19, the lowest number of hospitalized patients to have the virus since Dec. 27.
In fact, hospitalizations have decreased by 34.6% since they peaked at 7,380 on Jan. 13, according to IDPH data.
Of those patients, 864 are currently in intensive care unit beds, the lowest number the state has recorded since Christmas Day, according to officials.
Over the last 24 hours, the state reported 149 additional COVID-related deaths, but the average number of deaths per day has started to decrease, down to 123 per day over the last week.
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In all, 30,568 fatalities have been linked to COVID-19, with 3,730 more deaths currently listed as “probable” COVID fatalities, according to state officials.
Testing is seeing a more steady decline, with 224,498 tests performed in the last 24 hours. The state is now averaging fewer than 200,000 tests per day for the first time since Jan. 7.
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That is not accounting for the decreases in case numbers, with the state’s positivity rate dropping to 10.7% on all tests performed and 13.8% on individuals tested within the last week.
Nearly 50.6 million COVID tests have been performed in the state of Illinois since the pandemic began.
This week Illinois hit a new milestone, as 70% of state residents eligible to receive the COVID vaccine are now fully vaccinated. More than 9.5 million residents, 79.8% of the eligible population, have received at least one shot.
Approximately 3.8 million Illinois residents have received their booster doses of the vaccine, according to state officials.
The state is currently averaging 38,148 COVID vaccine doses administered per day.
