IDPH: 28 counties at ‘high’ COVID-19 risk; 40 at ‘medium’ risk

The Illinois Department of Public Health announced Friday that 28 counties in the state are considered “high” risk for COVID-19, a decrease of two counties from a week ago. An additional 40 counties are at the “medium” risk level, a decrease of 20 from last week.

The IDPH released data Friday that claims to show that widely available COVID-19 treatments have helped to avert approximately 8,600 hospitalizations in the last four months.

“The therapeutic treatments that are available for COVID-19 work,” IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra said in a news release. “The data from Illinois that IDPH released today show just how effective these treatments can be at protecting people who contract COVID-19 from being hospitalized and severe outcomes. These treatments are especially recommended for individuals over 50 and those with underlying medical conditions. The key is to start these medications quickly, within the first five days. If you have COVID-19 symptoms, please test and get treated right away.

“Vaccines continue to be the most effective tools for preventing the most severe symptoms of COVID-19. The new booster shots, now available, are the latest, most advanced tool to keep Illinois residents safe and protected. These new bivalent vaccines are designed to offer extra protection against the omicron variants which are now the dominant strain of the virus. Getting up to date is especially important for those who are most at risk of serious outcomes. We encourage everyone who is eligible to get up to date with these new boosters as soon as possible.”

The counties listed at High Community Level are: Adams, Carroll, Champaign, Clark, Coles, Crawford, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Franklin, Gallatin, Hardin, Jackson, Jefferson, Jo Daviess, Johnson, Lawrence, Lee, Marion, Massac, Ogle, Perry, Pike, Saline, Wabash, Wayne, Whiteside, and Williamson.

The CDC recommends wearing a well-fitting mask indoors in public, regardless of vaccination status in high-risk counties.

IDPH announced 3,310 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 18 additional deaths Friday.

As of late Thursday, Illinois had 1,314 COVID-19 patients in the hospital. Of those, 163 were in intensive care units, and 48 were on ventilators.

For Thursday, the state administered 24,558 vaccines, the most in a single day since February 18.

From the IDPH’s data dashboard:

Case rate per 100,000: 22.3 (down 1.1 from Thursday)

Percentage of ICU beds available: 19%

COVID-19-diagnosed hospital admissions (seven-day rolling average): 116 (up 2 from Thursday)

Weekly deaths reported: 64 (down six from a week ago)

Illinois has seen 3,716,318 total cases of the virus, and 34,811 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.

Vaccine update: As of Friday, the IDPH reported a total of 29,362,275 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed statewide, with 23,289,535 vaccines administered.

As of Friday, 8,353,314 Illinoisans have been fully vaccinated, or 65.56% of the population. Illinois has a population of 12,741,080 people.

CDC numbers:

Among Illinois residents 5 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 8,803,578 (73.8%)

At Least 1 Dose: 9,724,140 (81.5%)

Among Illinois residents 12 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 8,368,693 (77.2%)

At Least 1 Dose: 9,231,006 (85.2%)

Among Illinois residents 18 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 7,719,795 (78.3%)

At Least 1 Dose: 8,520,576 (86.5%)

Among Illinois residents 65 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 1,830,808 (89.6%)

At Least 1 Dose: 1,977,381 (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: 69.27%

Suburban Cook: 73.10%

Lake: 70.72%

McHenry: 66.17%

DuPage: 75.84%

Kane: 66.77%

Will: 67.06%

Kendall: 69.82%

La Salle: 58.63%

Grundy: 58.03%

DeKalb: 56.83%

Ogle: 57.22%

Lee: 59.11%

Whiteside: 52.09%

Bureau: 56.94%