The
Illinois Department of Public Health reported 1,381 new cases of
COVID-19 statewide Monday. | Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times file
Despite passing the milestone, the state reported one of its
lower daily caseloads of COVID-19 in days.
Illinois reported another 1,381 positive cases of COVID-19
statewide Monday, pushing the state’s total number of positive
tests past 250,000 amid a summertime resurgence.
It’s among one of the lower caseloads in the past month, which
has seen only three other days with fewer than 1,400 new cases.
The new caseload is also a dramatic decrease from Friday, when
the Illinois Department of Public Health reported a
record-high 5,368 new cases of COVID-19. The massive caseload,
which blew away the previous May record of 3,239 cases, was
attributed to a three-day data backlog.
Monday’s new cases were among 28,975 tests submitted to the
state, health officials said. The state has processed more than 4.4
million total coronavirus tests.
Health officials also announced eight more deaths tied to
COVID-19 in Illinois, raising the statewide toll to 8,179. About
96% of people in Illinois have recovered from the virus.
Illinois has seen a rise in COVID-19 cases since mid-June. Since
July 21, the state has reported daily caseloads over a thousand.
Eleven days since then have seen daily caseloads over 2,000.
Fatal cases of COVID-19 have fallen most heavily on people 80
years and older. Although that demographic is only about 5% of
overall positive cases, they’ve accounted for 44% of total deaths
statewide.
As of Sunday night, 1,484 Illinois coronavirus patients were
hospitalized, occupying about 7% of all hospital beds statewide. Of
those, 352 were in the ICU and 137 were on ventilators.
