Illinois sets a single-day record for COVID-19 vaccines administered with 154,201 doses

The Illinois Department of Public Health announced Thursday the state set a single-day record of 154,201 COVID-19 vaccine doses administered Wednesday.

The IDPH also reported 3,739 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 34 additional deaths Thursday, and a total of 6,707,183 COVID-19 vaccines have been administered.

The seven-day rolling average of Illinois’ positivity rate increased from 4.1% to 4.2%. The state received the results of 97,741 COVID-19 tests in the 24 hours leading up to Thursday afternoon.

Illinois has seen 1,269,196 total cases of the virus, and 21,457 people have died. The state has conducted a total of 20,916,192 tests since the start of the pandemic.

As of late Wednesday, Illinois had 1,798 COVID-19 patients in the hospital. Of those, 351 were in intensive care units, and 151 were on ventilators.

[ All Illinois residents 16 and older will be vaccine eligible starting Monday, Gov. Pritzker announces ]

Vaccine update: As of Thursday, IDPH reported a total of 8,642,545 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed statewide, with 6,707,183 vaccines administered.

As of the time this story was published, 2,571,654 of the population of Illinois have been fully vaccinated, or 20.18%. Illinois has a population of 12,741,080 people.

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: 17.75%

Suburban Cook: 20.31%

Lake: 17.63%

McHenry: 16.81%

DuPage: 21.26%

Kane: 17.34%

Will: 16.84%

Kendall: 18.74%

La Salle: 16.66%

Grundy: 16.59%

DeKalb: 15.71%

Ogle: 18.41%

Lee: 18.03%

Whiteside: 18.55%

Bureau: 16.73%

Variant cases increase: The state is also up to 704 confirmed variant virus cases, an increase of 104 from Tuesday. The state updates confirmed variant cases on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

A majority of the increases came in the B.1.1.7 variant, commonly called the United Kingdom variant. The state is reporting 552 cases of B.1.1.7, an increase of 81 in two days.

There are 93 cases of the P.1 variant, commonly called the Brazilian variant; 50 confirmed cases of the B.1.427/429 variant, commonly called the California variant; and nine confirmed cases of the B.1.351 variant, commonly called the South African variant.

Bridge update: According to Gov. JB Pritzker’s plan announced March 18, the state needs 70% of Illinois residents ages 65 and older to have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine before it can advance to the state’s “bridge plan” that will open up capacity limits on all businesses. The state’s bridge plan remains on pause because of a continued rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations and cases.

As of Thursday, 73.42% of those 65 and older had received one dose of the vaccine, according to the state’s dashboard.

Also, according to the state’s dashboard, 42.37% of Illinois residents 16 and older have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Regional update: Currently, all 11 of the state’s health regions are in Phase 4 of the state’s reopening plan.

For regions experiencing a resurgence of COVID-19, Tier 1 mitigations may be applied in either of these two scenarios:

• If a region’s test positivity rate is greater than or equal to 8 percent for three consecutive days (measured with the 7-day rolling average)

• If a region experiences both a sustained increase in test positivity rate (measured with the 7-day rolling average for 7 of 10 days) and hospital capacity is threatened, which is measured by either:

A. A sustained increase in the number of COVID-19 patients in the hospital (measured with the 7-day average for 7 of 10 days), or

B. Staffed ICU bed availability falls below 20% for three consecutive days (measured with the 7-day rolling average)

The North Suburban region (McHenry and Lake counties) has seen 75 consecutive days below 8% for its COVID-19 test positivity rate. The region’s positivity rate increased to 3.7%. Currently, 39% of ICU beds are available.

The region has never dropped below the 20% threshold for ICU bed availability since tracking began.

Within this region, McHenry County’s seven-day positivity rate average increased to 5.7%. Lake County, which does about two-thirds of the testing in the region, is reporting a rolling average of 3.3%.

Hospitalizations have decreased or remained stable six out of the past 10 days in this region.

The West Suburban region (DuPage and Kane counties) has seen 78 consecutive days below 8%. The region’s positivity rate increased to 7.1%. Currently, 33% of ICU beds are available.

Within this region, Kane County’s seven-day positivity average increased to 7.8% and DuPage County’s increased to 6.7%.

Hospitalizations have increased nine out of the past 10 days in this region.

The South Suburban region (Will and Kankakee counties) has seen 80 consecutive days below 8%. The region’s positivity rate increased to 5.1%. Currently, 22% of ICU beds are available.

Hospitalizations have increased 10 out of the past 10 days in this region.

The North region (Boone, Carroll, DeKalb, Jo Daviess, Lee, Ogle, Stephenson, Whiteside and Winnebago counties) has maintained a positivity rate below 8% for 83 days. The region’s positivity rate remained flat at 5.9%. Currently, 20% of ICU beds are available.

Within this region, DeKalb County’s positivity rate increased to 4.9%, Lee County’s rate stayed flat at 1.3%, and Whiteside County’s increased to 8.0%.

Hospitalizations have increased nine out of the past 10 days in this region.

The North-Central region (Bureau, Fulton, Grundy, Henderson, Henry, Kendall, Knox, La Salle, Livingston, Marshall, McDonough, McLean, Mercer, Peoria, Putnam, Rock Island, Stark, Tazewell, Warren and Woodford counties) has seen 84 days below 8%. The region’s positivity rate increased to 6.9%.

Currently, 20% of ICU beds are available. Hospitalizations have increased for 10 out of the past 10 days.

Within this region, La Salle County’s seven-day positivity rate stayed flat at 4.1%.

Chicago has seen 78 consecutive days below 8%. The region’s positivity rate stayed flat at 5.1%.

Currently, 25% of ICU beds are available.

Suburban Cook County has seen 78 days below 8%. The region’s positivity rate stayed flat at 5.2%.

Currently, 22% of ICU beds are available. Hospitalizations have increased 10 out of the past 10 days in this region.

To see how other regions across the state are doing, see the full IDPH dashboard here.

Newly reported deaths include:

• Cook County: 1 male 30s, 1 female 40s, 2 females 50s, 1 male 50s, 1 female 60s, 5 males 60s, 4 females 70s, 1 male 70s, 3 females 80s, 5 males 80s, 2 males 90s

• Grundy County: 1 female 80s

• Kankakee County: 1 female 70s

• Lake County: 1 female 80s

• Lee County: 1 male 70s

• Randolph County: 1 male 60s, 1 male 80s

• Rock Island County: 1 male 60s

• Will County: 1 male 60s