The number of daily COVID-19 cases in Illinois has tripled since the beginning of July, a period of just three weeks, according to data from the state's Department of Public Health.
An average 303 daily cases were reported for the week ending July 2. On Friday, IDPH reported a daily average of 1,140 cases. In all, Illinois saw 7,983 new COVID cases during the past week.
The positivity rate of coronavirus testing also doubled in the past two weeks, according to data from state health officials, as hospitalization metrics also continued to rise.
The seven-day rolling average positivity rate on all tests rose Friday to 3.3% from 1.9% the week before and 1.5% two weeks prior. The rolling average seven-day positivity rate on individuals tested rose to 3.5%, up from 1.7% then 2.3% in the past two weeks, officials said.
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Those figures show the positivity rate in testing has more than doubled in both categories over the past two weeks.
In all, 1,407,929 cases of coronavirus have been reported in the state since the pandemic began. The additional deaths reported this week bring the state to 23,401 confirmed COVID fatalities.
COVID cases are on the rise in all 50 states as the delta variant rapidly spreads across the country and the virus once again tightens its grip.
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In Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker warned Tuesday that stricter mitigations could return for areas seeing a rise in COVID cases.
"I believe strongly that we will impose mitigations as it's appropriate, where it's appropriate," Pritzker said in an interview.
Calling on anyone who is unvaccinated to get vaccinated, Pritzker said the state continues to monitor COVID metrics like positivity rate, case numbers and hospitalizations.
"It is always a difficult thing for me," he said. "I wake up every morning and I look at those numbers and when they're rising, you know, that's a bad day, and I want to do whatever I can to mitigate that. So that's included making sure testing is widely available, making sure that the vaccines are widely available, and I'll continue to do that and if we need to take stricter mitigations we will."
