Coronavirus In Illinois: New COVID-19 Cases Reach Highest Point Since Early June; Testing Breaks Another Record
CHICAGO (CBS) -- For the second day in a row, Illinois set a new record for statewide COVID-19 testing, but at the same time, the state reported the largest number of new confirmed cases in more than a month.
The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 1,384 new virus cases on Friday, along with 22 additional deaths. The number of new cases was the highest since June 2, when Illinois reported 1,614 new cases. It also was the sixth time so far in July Illinois has had more than 1,000 new cases, after surpassing that number only twice in all of June.
But Illinois also set a new record for testing for the fourth time in nine days, with state labs announcing 43,692 tests on Friday, for a positive test rate of 3.2% over the past day, up slightly from Thursday's positivity rate of 2.9%. Over the past week, the average positive statewide test rate is 3.0%, up from the 7-day average of 2.6% early last week.
Since the start of the pandemic, Illinois has reported 159,334 cases of COVID-19, including 7,272 deaths.
As of Thursday night, 1,431 virus patients were being treated in Illinois hospitals, including 309 in intensive care, and 128 on ventilators; all virtually the same hospitalization figures as on Thursday.
So far, the vast majority of COVID-19 patients have recovered from the disease, with a 95% statewide recovery rate as of Friday. The state's recovery rate calculates the number of people who have tested positive for the virus, and have survived at least 42 days after their test.