March 29, 2024
Coronavirus

Hospitalizations, variant COVID-19 cases continue to rise as Illinois administers another 95,188 vaccines

IDPH: 19.03% of Illinois residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19

The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 2,931 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 31 additional deaths Tuesday, and a total of 6,413,258 COVID-19 vaccines have been administered.

For Monday, 95,188 doses were reported administered in Illinois.

The seven-day rolling average of Illinois’ positivity rate increased from 3.8% to 3.9%. The state received the results of 51,625 COVID-19 tests in the 24 hours leading up to Tuesday afternoon.

Illinois has seen 1,261,667 total cases of the virus, and 21,395 people have died. The state has conducted a total of 20,737,823 tests since the start of the pandemic.

As of late Monday, Illinois had 1,648 COVID-19 patients in the hospital, the most since Feb. 17. Of those, 357 were in intensive care units, and 143 were on ventilators.

The state also will receive an additional $124 million in funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to further expand its COVID-19 vaccination program, including more than $90 million for the state and $33 million for the city of Chicago, IDPH announced Tuesday.

About 75% of the funding will be focused on underserved communities and those disproportionately affected by COVID-19 to help ensure individuals are equitably vaccinated. This funding will allow the state to further build-out existing equity efforts, including partnerships with Federally Qualified Health Centers and safety net hospitals, collaboration with African-American/Black and Latino places of worship, rural vaccination teams and mass vaccination sites in communities hit hardest by the pandemic.

“With this new funding from the Biden/Harris administration, Illinois will move quickly to further expand our aggressive efforts to reach those most vulnerable to COVID-19,” Gov. JB Pritzker said. “With mass vaccination sites across the state, rural vaccination teams reaching those with less access to healthcare, and partnerships with trusted providers in underserved communities, we have built the infrastructure to end this pandemic as quickly as possible, and these new resources will only help us reach that day even sooner. I’m grateful to President Biden and his administration for making these resources available and for their steadfast partnership since taking office.”

Variant cases increase: The state is also up to 600 confirmed variant virus cases, an increase of 106 from Sunday. The state updates confirmed variant cases on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

A majority of the increases came in the B.1.1.7 variant, commonly called the United Kingdom variant. The state is reporting 471 cases of B.1.1.7, an increase of 83 in two days.

There are 77 cases of the P.1 variant, commonly called the Brazilian variant; 47 confirmed cases of the B.1.427/429 variant, commonly called the California variant; and five confirmed cases of the B.1.351 variant, commonly called the South African variant.

Vaccine update: As of Tuesday, IDPH reported a total of 8,061,075 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed statewide, with 6,413,258 vaccines administered.

As of the time this story was published, 2,424,674 of the population of Illinois have been fully vaccinated, or 19.03%. Illinois has a population of 12,741,080 people.

There can be as much as a 72-hour delay in reporting from healthcare providers on vaccines administered.

In northern Illinois, here is the percentage of the population fully vaccinated by county:

Chicago: 16.59%

Suburban Cook: 19.19%

Lake: 16.53%

McHenry: 15.79%

DuPage: 20.00%

Kane: 16.57%

Will: 15.87%

Kendall: 17.70%

La Salle: 16.01%

Grundy: 15.89%

DeKalb: 14.08%

Ogle: 17.01%

Lee: 16.99%

Whiteside: 17.77%

Bureau: 16.41%

Bridge update: According to Gov. JB Pritzker’s plan announced March 18, the state needs 70% of Illinois residents ages 65 and older to have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine before it can advance to the state’s “bridge plan” that will open up capacity limits on all businesses. The state’s bridge plan remains on pause because of a continued rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations and cases.

As of Tuesday, 72.40% of those 65 and older had received one dose of the vaccine, according to the state’s dashboard.

Also, according to the state’s dashboard, 40.61% of Illinois residents 16 and older have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Regional update: Currently, all 11 of the state’s health regions are in Phase 4 of the state’s reopening plan.

For regions experiencing a resurgence of COVID-19, Tier 1 mitigations may be applied in either of these two scenarios:

• If a region’s test positivity rate is greater than or equal to 8 percent for three consecutive days (measured with the 7-day rolling average)

• If a region experiences both a sustained increase in test positivity rate (measured with the 7-day rolling average for 7 of 10 days) and hospital capacity is threatened, which is measured by either:

A. A sustained increase in the number of COVID patients in the hospital (measured with the 7-day average for 7 of 10 days), or

B. Staffed ICU bed availability falls below 20 percent for three consecutive days (measured with the 7-day rolling average)

The North Suburban region (McHenry and Lake counties) has seen 73 consecutive days below 8% for its COVID-19 test positivity rate. The region’s positivity rate increased to 3.5%. Currently, 39% of ICU beds are available.

The region has never dropped below the 20% threshold for ICU bed availability since tracking began.

Within this region, McHenry County’s seven-day positivity rate average increased to 5.6%. Lake County, which does about two-thirds of the testing in the region, is reporting a rolling average of 3.2%.

Hospitalizations have decreased or remained stable seven out of the past 10 days in this region.

The West Suburban region (DuPage and Kane counties) has seen 76 consecutive days below 8%. The region’s positivity rate increased to 6.7%. Currently, 36% of ICU beds are available.

Within this region, Kane County’s seven-day positivity average increased to 7.4% and DuPage County’s increased to 6.4%.

Hospitalizations have increased nine out of the past 10 days in this region.

The South Suburban region (Will and Kankakee counties) has seen 78 consecutive days below 8%. The region’s positivity rate increased to 4.9%. Currently, 25% of ICU beds are available.

Hospitalizations have increased 10 out of the past 10 days in this region.

The North region (Boone, Carroll, DeKalb, Jo Daviess, Lee, Ogle, Stephenson, Whiteside and Winnebago counties) has maintained a positivity rate below 8% for 81 days. The region’s positivity rate increased to 6.2%. Currently, 21% of ICU beds are available.

Within this region, DeKalb County’s positivity rate increased to 4.8%, Lee County’s rate increased to 3.0%, and Whiteside County’s stayed flat at 7.7%.

Hospitalizations have increased nine out of the past 10 days in this region.

The North-Central region (Bureau, Fulton, Grundy, Henderson, Henry, Kendall, Knox, La Salle, Livingston, Marshall, McDonough, McLean, Mercer, Peoria, Putnam, Rock Island, Stark, Tazewell, Warren and Woodford counties) has seen 82 days below 8%. The region’s positivity rate increased to 6.7%.

Currently, 21% of ICU beds are available. Hospitalizations have increased for nine out of the past 10 days.

Within this region, La Salle County’s seven-day positivity rate increased more than a full percentage point to 5.4%.

Chicago has seen 76 consecutive days below 8%. The region’s positivity rate increased to 5.1%.

Currently, 24% of ICU beds are available.

Suburban Cook County has seen 76 days below 8%. The region’s positivity rate stayed flat at 5.1%.

Currently, 21% of ICU beds are available. Hospitalizations have increased 10 out of the past 10 days in this region.

Regional data from the IDPH remains on a three-day lag.

To see how other regions across the state are doing, see the full IDPH dashboard here.

Newly reported deaths include:

• Cook County: 2 males 40s, 1 male 70s

• Knox County: 1 female 80s

• Lake County: 1 male 50s

• Livingston County: 1 female 90s

• Massac County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s

• Rock Island County: 1 male 50s

• Shelby County: 1 female 60s

• Union County: 1 male 60s

• Will County: 1 male 40s

• Winnebago County: 1 male 90s

John Sahly

John Sahly

John Sahly is the digital editor for the Shaw Local News Network. He has been with Shaw Media since 2008, previously serving as the Northwest Herald's digital editor, and the Daily Chronicle sports editor and sports reporter.