March 28, 2024
Coronavirus

IDPH: 66 Illinois counties at “high” COVID-19 risk

Weekly COVID-19 deaths under 50, on two-week decline

The latest community levels map for COVID-19, as released by the Illinois Department of Public Health on Friday, July 29, 2022

The Illinois Department of Public Health announced Friday that there are 66 counties in the state at “high” risk for COVID-19, an increase of eight from the previous week. An additional 31 counties are at “medium” risk, a decrease of five from the previous week.

The northern Illinois counties listed at high community level are: Boone, Carroll, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Jo Daviess, Kane, Kendall, Lake, Lee, McHenry, Ogle, Stephenson, Whiteside, Will, and Winnebago.

“With 97 counties at an elevated risk level for COVID-19, the most important thing people can do to protect themselves is to make sure they are up-to-date on their vaccinations and boosters,” IDPH Acting Director Amaal Tokars said in a news release. “This is the most effective means we have to protect ourselves from serious illness, hospitalization and death. So please don’t wait to get up-to-date!”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends wearing a well-fitting, high-quality mask in public indoor settings, regardless of vaccination status, in high-community-level counties, along with being up-to-date on vaccinations and boosters.

At the medium community level, people who are elderly or immunocompromised (at risk of severe outcomes) are advised to wear a mask in indoor public places.

IDPH announced 5,913 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and five additional deaths Friday.

As of late Thursday, Illinois had 1,459 COVID-19 patients in the hospital. Of those, 153 were in intensive care units and 43 were on ventilators.

For Thursday, the state administered 13,031 vaccines.

From the IDPH’s data dashboard:

Case rate per 100,000: 39.7 (up 0.8 from Thursday)

Percentage of ICU beds available: 17%

COVID-19-diagnosed hospital admissions (seven-day rolling average): 142 (down 1 from Thursday)

Weekly deaths reported: 48 (down 4 from last week)

Illinois has seen 3,563,653 total cases of the virus, and 34,357 people have died.

County-by-county update: As of mid-April, the IDPH will provide a county-by-county update focusing on the case rate per 100,000 people, the percentage of ICU beds available, a rolling seven-day average of COVID-19-diagnosed hospital admissions and weekly deaths.

The definition of a COVID-19-diagnosed hospital admission is as follows: the seven-day average of daily number of hospital admissions given a diagnosis of COVID-19 as measured using the Illinois Syndromic Surveillance System.

Illinois collects all emergency department and inpatient visits through syndromic surveillance from all acute care hospitals in Illinois in near-real time. Data is presented with a three-day lag to allow time for diagnosis to be reported.

At the county level, a visit is counted by where the patient resides. A patient with multiple visits will be counted for each visit. Admissions may not be because of COVID-19 as the primary cause. Syndromic surveillance data is not the same source used by the CDC to report COVID-19 hospital admissions data.

CountyCase Rate/100,000% available ICU bedsCOVID-19 diagnosed hospital admissions
(7-day rolling average)
Weekly
deaths
Bureau38.52200
Chicago36.1152512
DeKalb391320
DuPage43.319111
Grundy322200
Kane47.41950
Kendall39.52210
Lake43.32053
La Salle33.82200
Lee37.21310
McHenry38.72040
Ogle33.41301
Suburban
Cook
37.916319
Whiteside35.41300
Will38.72293

Vaccine update: As of Friday, the IDPH reported a total of 28,751,275 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed statewide, with 22,985,407 vaccines administered.

As of Friday, 8,323,792 Illinoisans have been fully vaccinated, or 65.33% of the population. Illinois has a population of 12,741,080 people.

CDC numbers:

Among Illinois residents 5 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 8,770,803 (73.6%)

At Least 1 Dose: 9,690,988 (81.3%)

Among Illinois residents 12 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 8,344,607 (77%)

At Least 1 Dose: 9,209,070 (85%)

Among Illinois residents 18 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 7,700,489 (78.1%)

At Least 1 Dose: 8,503,679 (86.3%)

Among Illinois residents 65 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 1,827,955 (89.5%)

At Least 1 Dose: 1,975,848 (95%)

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

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

Chicago: 69.03%

Suburban Cook: 72.86%

Lake: 70.43%

McHenry: 65.92%

DuPage: 75.61%

Kane: 66.54%

Will: 66.83%

Kendall: 69.39%

La Salle: 58.45%

Grundy: 57.82%

DeKalb: 56.71%

Ogle: 57.03%

Lee: 58.95%

Whiteside: 51.95%

Bureau: 56.82%

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.