Illinois set new records in both COVID cases and hospitalizations on Wednesday, with more than 32,000 new cases of the virus and nearly 7,000 COVID-positive individuals now hospitalized across the state.
According to the newest numbers from the Illinois Department of Public Health, the state reported 32,279 confirmed and probable cases of the virus Wednesday, setting a new record for single-day COVID cases.
After never reporting more than 21,000 COVID cases in a single-day, the state has now reported more than 30,000 on three separate occasions in the last seven days, according to IDPH data, representing a dramatic surge in new COVID cases.
IDPH data shows that the state is now averaging 25,183 cases of COVID per day, the highest average reported during the pandemic.
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In all, 2,295,445 cases of the virus have been reported since the pandemic began.
The state has reported 79 COVID-related deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing Illinois to an average of 60 deaths per day over the last week. A total of 28,156 deaths have been linked to COVID, with another 3,260 fatalities reported as “probable” COVID-19 deaths.
The state did record 205,225 new tests as being returned to laboratories in the last 24 hours, but the daily average of new test results continued a slow decline, with the state now averaging 176,779 test results per day.
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As a result, the state’s positivity rate increased, with 14.2% of all test results coming back positive. In terms of patients, 18.4% of patients tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours.
Illinois health officials also reported another new record-high in terms of hospitalizations on Wednesday, with 6,842 patients now being hospitalized after contracting the virus.
The IDPH database reminds residents that the hospitalization numbers only include patients that currently have been diagnosed with COVID, not patients that are hospitalized specifically because of the virus.
Of those patients, 1,135 are currently in intensive care unit beds, the most the state has reported since Dec. 8, 2020.
Several healthcare regions in the state are reporting that they have single-digit ICU bed availability, including just four beds in Region 5, located in southern Illinois, and six beds in Region 7, which is comprised of Will and Kankakee counties.
A total of 260 of the state’s 2,981 ICU beds are currently available.
Illinois reported 59,891 new COVID vaccine doses were adminstered over the last 24 hours, bringing the state to an average of 45,297 doses per day.
In all, the state has administered 19.4 million COVID vaccine doses, with 68.4% of the eligible population of the state now fully vaccinated against the virus.
Of the hospitalizations reported in the state during the pandemic, 6,087 were recorded among fully-vaccinated individuals. That number represents 0.079% of the vaccinated population of the state.
The state has also recorded 1,674 deaths in fully-vaccinated individuals, representing 0.022% of the vaccinated population.
Of breakthrough hospitalizations, 70% occurred in patients over the age of 65, and 87% of breakthrough deaths occurred in that population. A total of 71% of breakthrough hospitalizations occurred in individuals who were immunocompromised or had an underlying condition, according to IDPH data.
