John Sahly

Illinois has fewer than 1,000 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit beds for the first time since December 28, according to new data from the Illinois Department of Public Health

The Illinois Department of Public Health reported Thursday the fewest number of patients in Illinois hospitals with COVID-19 since New Year’s Day

Multiple state officials expressed cautious optimism on Wednesday that Illinois is past the peak of the omicron-driven COVID-19 surge

The federal government said last week it would provide 500 million at-home, rapid COVID-19 tests. It soft-launched launched its website on Tuesday. The tests are free and are limited to one order per household.

The number of people in Illinois hospitals with COVID-19 has dropped 9% from last Wednesday’s all-time high, according to the most recent data from the Illinois Department of Public Health

New hospital admissions for covid-like illness declined for the fourth straight day, and the seven-day rolling average for new COVID-19 cases dropped below 30,000 new cases per day for the first time in five days. More than 3.5 million Illinois residents have been boosted.

New admissions for covid-like illness, defined as if a patient presents with a fever and either cough, difficulty breathing or is given a diagnosis of COVID-19, have declined for three consecutive days, from 645 new admissions on January 7 to be 608 admissions on January 10.

Analysis of new hospital admissions over the past week put breakthrough hospitalizations at 6.98% of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Illinois in the past week. This means those who are unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated were 93.02% of COVID-19 hospital admissions in the past week

As of late Monday, Illinois had a pandemic state-record 7,353 COVID-19 patients in the hospital. Of those, 1,152 were in intensive care units.

The number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Illinois has grown 6.8% in the past week, compared to a 32% increase the week prior. Only two of the state’s 11 health care regions remain in the single digits for ICU beds available.

Four Illinois health care regions remain in the single digits for staffed, available ICU beds. But three of those regions did improve overnight, including Region 1 (DeKalb County, Rockford, Sauk Valley) and Region 7 (Will and Kankakee counties).

Region 1, which includes DeKalb County, Sauk Valley and Rockford, is down to 4 staffed, available ICU beds out of 141 total ICU beds in the region. This is also the first day with more than 100 COVID-19 deaths in a day since February 11, 2021.

Breakthrough COVID-19 hospitalizations went down compared to last week, while those who are not fully vaccinated were 93% of COVID-19 hospital admissions in Illinois in the past week. This data does not take booster shots into account.

Four of the state’s 11 health care regions are down to the single digits in available, staffed ICU beds. Illinois currently has 2,975 total staffed ICU beds, nearly identical to what the state's total was near the beginning of the pandemic in April 2020.

The Illinois Department of Public Health reported the state had a new state-record 6,294 people in the hospital with COVID-19 as of late Sunday. Of those, 1,086 were in intensive care units.