Illinois processed a new daily record of 19,417 coronavirus tests Saturday and 2,994 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed, health officials announced Sunday.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Illinois also suffered another 63 deaths from COVID-19 on Saturday, bringing the state’s coronavirus death toll to 2,618 and total case count to 61,499.
The 63 deaths mark only the third time since April 21 that the state has recorded fewer than 70 deaths in a given day, and the 19,417 tests processed shatters the previous record of 16,316 set on April 24.
The 15.4 percent infection rate — the percentage of tests that came back positive — is also lower than normal.
A total of 4,701 Illinoisans are currently hospitalized due to COVID-19, with 1,232 occupying ICU beds and 759 on ventilators. Ninety-seven of the state’s 102 counties have recorded cases.
The latest numbers come as controversy about how the statewide stay-at-home order applies to religious organizations continues.
A key change included in the updated stay-at-home order that took effect Friday allows religious gatherings that comply with social distancing guidelines and include no more than 10 people.
While many congregations chose to forgo in-person services on Sunday and instead continued to broadcast online, a church in northern Illinois that has sued Pritzker in federal court openly flouted the new rules and held a larger gathering.
Pritzker’s move to include the new language about “the free exercise of religion” came after The Beloved Church of Lena sued over the 80-member congregation’s rights to gather.
On Saturday night, U.S. District Judge John Z. Lee denied the church’s motion for a temporary restraining order and injunctive relief to permit members to gather on Sunday morning.
Despite the ruling, a spokesman said congregants were planning to fill the church Sunday for “the first public in-person worship service” since Pritzker’s initial stay-at-home order was instituted March 21.
While churchgoers were being provided with masks and hand sanitizer, and families were required to stay 6 feet apart, the spokesman said officials in Stephenson County agreed to overlook the blatant violation of the stay-at-home order.
Meanwhile, Roman Catholic churches in the Chicago area continued to hold virtual services on Sunday. Susan Thomas, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Chicago, said church officials tasked with determining how to hold socially distanced masses are still “in the planning stages.”
