Record testing pushes daily COVID-19 count past 1,000 for first time since June 2
The graph shows the number of COVID-19 tests completed each day (blue), next to the number of positive cases those tests yield (red), according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. (Credit: Jerry Nowicki of Capitol News Illinois)
Hospital bed usage remains low, rolling positivity rate still stable
By JERRY NOWICKI
Capitol News Illinois
jnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com
SPRINGFIELD — New Illinois COVID-19 cases topped 1,000 Thursday for the first time since June 2, but the high number coincided with the state’s highest recorded single-day testing output.
The 36,180 test results reported yielded 1,018 positive results for a one-day positivity rate of 2.8 percent — well within the range of the past month. The seven-day rolling average remained at 2.6 percent.
The Illinois Department of Public Health also reported another 20 COVID-19 related deaths, bringing the total since the pandemic began in Illinois to 7,119 among 150,450 confirmed cases. There have been 1.87 million tests completed in the state.
At the end of Wednesday, there were 1,507 people in Illinois reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. That was 11 below the previous day and the second-straight day with more than 1,500 hospitalized with the virus after five straight days of fewer than 1,400.
About 38 percent of the state’s hospital beds were open at the end of Wednesday, with 4.3 percent of the occupied beds used by COVID-19 patients. That number was as high as 15 percent at the height of the pandemic.
Of those hospitalized, 317 patients were in an intensive care unit bed, a decrease of 14 from the day before. That means about 8.1 percent of the state’s ICU beds were in use by COVID-19 patients and 42 percent of them remained open. COVID-19 patients occupied as high as 43 percent of ICU beds at the height of the pandemic, and capacity once shrunk as low as 24 percent.
Approximately 2.6 percent of the state’s ventilator supply — 153 ventilators total — was being used by COVID-19 patients at the end of Wednesday. That was two ventilators more than the previous day, which was the lowest recorded during the pandemic. About 74 percent of the state’s ventilator supply remained open.
At the height of the pandemic, more than 19 percent of the state’s ventilator supply was in use by COVID-19 patients, but the state implemented other procedures to avoid putting patients on ventilators and padded its supply by the thousands in case of a surge.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government and distributed to more than 400 newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
Jerry Nowicki
Jerry has more than five years of experience in and around state government and nearly 10 years of experience in news. He grew up in south suburban Evergreen Park and received a bachelor’s degree from Illinois State University and a master’s degree online from Purdue University.
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