A steady, month-long surge in COVID-19 infections and hospital stays took its final troubling move in Illinois on Tuesday when officials reported 2,931 new cases of the virus and positivity rates soared to levels not seen in months.
The latest infections were diagnosed among 51,625 tests, which means 5.7% of the samples came back positive – the highest percentage of new cases reported by the Illinois Department of Public Health in a single day since January 19.
The state appeared to be well on its way to eradicating the pandemic less than a month ago when most key metrics fell to pandemic lows and a historic vaccination campaign gained momentum.
Since March 12, the average statewide positivity rate for seven-day testing in Illinois has increased from 2.1% to 3.9% – the highest point since February 2. The regional positivity rate in Chicago is even higher at 5.1%.
At the same time, hospitals across the state saw a 52% increase in COVID-19 admissions, with 1,648 beds occupied as of Monday night.
Nearly 600 Chicagoans test positive on average every day, a number that has more than doubled since early March.
Cook County officials warned over the weekend that the region was “at the start of an upswing.” It marks the state’s third wave of viruses after the first wave last spring and an even more devastating resurgence in November.
New COVID-19 cases by day
Artwork by Jesse Howe and Caroline Hurley | Solar times
Source: Illinois Department of Public Health
Graphic not displayed correctly? Click here.
The most recent increase is in spite of the fact that 19% of the state’s population has been fully vaccinated. How bad it gets depends on whether residents have been following the basic protocols that have been in place for over a year.
“This is a time to double what we know to prevent the spread of COVID-19,” the Chicago Department of Public Health said in a statement. “That includes wearing a mask, maintaining social distance, washing hands, and staying home as much as you can.”
The virus claims an average of 18 people live in Illinois a day, but that could soon rise, along with the rising number of cases each day, experts have said. The state reported 13 more deaths Tuesday, including that of two Cook County men in their forties.
The death toll in Illinois is up to 21,395, among the nearly 1.3 million residents who tested positive since last March.
With 95,188 COVID-19 vaccinations given on Monday, more than 2.4 million residents have been fully immunized to date. In the past week, an average of 106,976 shots were fired in the arms every day.
COVID-19 vaccine doses given daily
Artwork by Jesse Howe and Caroline Hurley | Solar times
Source: Illinois Department of Public Health
Graphic not displayed correctly? Click here.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is sending an additional $ 124 million to the state to step up vaccination efforts. Of this, about $ 33 million will go to Chicago.
About 75% of the money goes to “underserved communities and those disproportionately affected by COVID-19 to ensure individuals are vaccinated fairly,” according to Governor JB Pritzker’s office.
“With mass vaccination centers across the state, rural vaccination teams less accessible to health care, and partnerships with trusted providers in underserved communities, we’ve built the infrastructure to end this pandemic as soon as possible, and these new resources will only help us achieve this day even earlier, ”said Pritzker in a statement.
84 of the state’s 102 counties – all outside the Chicago area – have already called on Pritzker’s OK to open up immunization rights to residents 16 and older in areas where demand has waned. The governor will make eligibility universal to the rest of the state on April 12, a week before President Joe Biden’s most recent directive.
City officials haven’t said when they will proceed with universal vaccination eligibility, but they have updated their emergency travel order to require people from hot-spot states and territories to show up with evidence of a recent negative COVID-19 test.
The list of such “orange level” areas still spans about half the nation: New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Florida, Delaware, Connecticut, Colorado, Vermont, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Alaska, Virginia, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Michigan, West Virginia, Maryland, Maine, North Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Ohio, and the District of Columbia.
The order does not apply to people who have been fully vaccinated. Non-essential travel is still discouraged.
