COVID-19 In Illinois: 11,101 New Coronavirus Cases, 196 Additional Deaths
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Illinois experienced its third-highest daily COVID-19 death toll on Thursday, as a key FDA advisory panel was meeting to vote on authorization of the first coronavirus vaccine.
The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 11,101 new confirmed and probable coronavirus cases on Thursday, as well as 196 additional deaths. It's the 18th time in the past month the state has reported more than 100 deaths in a single day. During the first wave of the pandemic in spring and summer, IDPH reported more than 100 daily deaths 25 times between between Mid-April and early June.
Over the past week, Illinois has seen a total of 1,035 virus deaths, compared to 863 during the previous seven days, a 20% increase.
However, Gov. JB Pritzker said it's highly unlikely that increase is the result of a new surge from Thanksgiving gatherings.
"We are not far enough from Thanksgiving that those numbers are reflective, in my opinion, as a lagging indicator of Thanksgiving," Pritzker said.
The governor noted COVID deaths typically lag a few weeks behind new cases, and that it's still unclear if the Thanksgiving holiday led to a rise in cases statewide, since it can take two to four weeks to see any specific trends in new cases tied to a specific event.
Since the start of the pandemic, Illinois has reported a total of 823,531 coronavirus cases, including 13,861 deaths.
While deaths from the virus are still trending upward, the state's positivity rate has largely been trending downward over the past month. After the state's seven-day average case positivity rate reached as high as 13.2% on Nov. 13, it is now down to 9.5%, the lowest it's been since Nov. 5.
As of Wednesday night, 5,138 virus patients were being treated in Illinois hospitals, including 1,081 in the ICU, and 606 on ventilators.
While hospitalizations seem to have started trending downward since peaking at 6,175 on Nov. 20, there are still far more COVID-19 patients in the hospital at the start of December than at the start of October.
Illinois is averaging 5,251 coronavirus hospitalizations per day over the last week, more than triple the average of about 1,500 per day at the start of October. During the first wave of the pandemic, the state peaked at an average of 4,822 hospitalizations per day in early May.
Pritzker said, while it's encouraging that the state is still making progress in improving its statewide positivity rate, and hospitalizations are down slightly from their November peak, he said it's still too early to say the state won't see a surge in Thanksgiving-related cases.
"I cannot overstate how preliminary this progress is. We are at a time of year when traditional gatherings are usually abundant, and because of the severity of this pandemic, it's really never been more important not to do so," he said.
Also From CBS Chicago:
- DUI Charges Upgraded To Felony For Joliet Police Officer Erin Zilka In Crash That Killed Berwyn Officer
- Off-Duty Chicago Police Officer Shoots, Kills Son During Domestic-Related Incident In Garfield Ridge
- St. Louis Area Man Says He Got Chicago Parking Ticket Notice In Mail When He's Never Even Been To Chicago -- And He's Not Alone
