COVID-19 In Illinois: More Than 3 Million Residents Fully Vaccinated, But Cases And Hospitalizations Still Up Significantly Over Past Month
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Illinois has reached a new milestone in its fight against COVID-19, as more than 3 million residents have now been fully vaccinated, although new cases and hospitalizations are still up significantly from one month ago.
The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 3,028,415 people in Illinois have been fully vaccinated as of Tuesday night, accounting for 23.77% of the population.
A total of 9,386,135 doses of vaccine have been delivered to Illinois since December, and 7,482,650 doses have been administered statewide. Illinois is now averaging 132,810 vaccinations per day over the past week.
The state also opened a new mass vaccination site on Wednesday in south suburban Matteson, in the former Target store at 4647 Promenade Way. The site will provide both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and will be open to any Illinois resident age 16 and older. Appointments are available online at vaccine.cookcountyil.gov or by calling the county's hotline at 833-308-1988, Monday through Friday, 7am to 7pm.
Meantime, Illinois also reported 3,536 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, as well as 31 more deaths. Illinois is averaging 3,158 new cases per day so far in April, up 96% over the first two weeks of March, when the state averaged 1,617 new cases per day.
The statewide seven-day average case positivity rate stands at 4.2%, and has fallen slightly each of the past two days, but is still nearly double where it was a month ago, when the rate was 2.2% on March 14.
As of Tuesday night, a total of 2,076 coronavirus patients were hospitalized in Illinois, including 453 in the ICU and 198 on ventilators. Illinois is averaging 1,853 coronavirus hospitalizations per day so far in April, up 59% over the same period in March.
However, Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday said it appears the recent rise in cases and hospitalizations is starting to slow down.
"We are seeing upward movement of our cases and hospitalizations, obviously, but we have seen a beginning of maybe a lessening of the rise of cases. I don't want to predict anything, because this virus is unpredictable, but I think at least in the short term that seems to be good news," he said at an unrelated event.
