New COVID-19 cases in Illinois children continue to climb

New COVID-19 cases in Illinois children are up for the ninth consecutive week.

The Illinois Department of Public Health released its weekly school aged cases report on Friday. The youngest group measured in this report, children aged 5-11, reported 3,280 new COVID-19 cases for the week ending Aug. 28. That is the most cases for this age group, which is not currently eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine, since the middle of January.

This is also only the second time since IDPH made school-aged data public that the 5-11 year old age group had more new cases in a week than the 12-17 year old age group. The data goes back to August 2020, and the only other week the younger group had more cases was the week ending December 26, when the younger group had 45 cases and the 12-17 year olds had 42 new cases.

Children aged 12-17 years old are eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine, and state data indicates 419,310 children in this age group are fully vaccinated.

There are 81 total school outbreaks – up from 26 a week ago – in 28 counties, including Cook, DuPage, Kane, McHenry, DeKalb, La Salle and Ogle counties.

IDPH reported 5,980 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 37 additional deaths Friday.

The 5,980 cases are the most in a single day since January 22.

For Thursday, the state administered 27,372 shots.

The state received the results of 109,536 COVID-19 tests in the 24 hours leading up to Friday afternoon. The state’s positivity rate went up to 5.0%.

Illinois has seen 1,538,324 total cases of the virus, and 24,067 people have died. The state has conducted a total of 29,177,890 tests since the start of the pandemic.

As of late Thursday, Illinois had 2,286 COVID-19 patients in the hospital, the most since April 19. Of those, 551 were in intensive care units, the most since January 27 and 302 were on ventilators.

Hard-hit Region 5, southern Illinois, is also back down to one available, staffed ICU bed out of 89. The region had been improving in ICU capacity, getting up to seven available beds, up until Thursday.

Vaccine update: As of Friday, IDPH reported a total of 16,464,175 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed statewide, with 14,005,857 vaccines administered.

As of Friday, 6,775,400 Illinoisans have been fully vaccinated, or 53.18% of the population. Illinois has a population of 12,741,080 people.

Among Illinois residents 12 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 6,498,355 (60%)

At Least 1 Dose: 8,360,801 (77.1%)

Among Illinois residents 18 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 6,079,045 (61.7%)

At Least 1 Dose: 7,758,761 (78.7%)

Among Illinois residents 65 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 1,573,765 (77%)

At Least 1 Dose: 1,915,303 (93.7%)

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: 55.06%

Suburban Cook: 58.73%

Lake: 55.91%

McHenry: 53.97%

DuPage: 62.82%

Kane: 53.69%

Will: 53.28%

Kendall: 54.79%

La Salle: 47.60%

Grundy: 45.93%

DeKalb: 46.65%

Ogle: 46.23%

Lee: 49.62%

Whiteside: 44.92%

Bureau: 45.41%

Regional update: All 11 regions in the state are in Phase 5.

Regional data from the IDPH remains on a three-day lag.

The North Suburban (McHenry and Lake counties) region’s positivity rate decreased to 5.1%. Currently, 19% of ICU beds are available.

Within this region, McHenry County’s seven-day positivity rate average decreased to 5.3%. Lake County, which does about two-thirds of the testing in the region, is reporting a rolling average of 5.0%.

Hospitalizations have decreased or remained stable one out of the past 10 days in this region. The region is up to a total of 135 COVID-19 patients in the hospital.

The West Suburban (DuPage and Kane counties) region’s positivity rate decreased to 5.4%. Currently, 22% of ICU beds are available.

Within this region, Kane County’s seven-day positivity rate stayed flat at 5.0%, and DuPage County’s stayed flat at 5.7%.

Hospitalizations decreased or remained stable two out of the past 10 days in this region. The region is down to 208 total COVID-19 patients in the hospital.

The South Suburban (Will and Kankakee counties) region’s positivity rate decreased to 6.1%. Currently, 25% of ICU beds are available.

Hospitalizations decreased or remained stable seven out of the past 10 days in this region. The region is up to 97 total COVID-19 patients in the hospital.

The North (Boone, Carroll, DeKalb, Jo Daviess, Lee, Ogle, Stephenson, Whiteside and Winnebago counties) region’s positivity rate decreased to 6.2%.

Currently, 16% of ICU beds are available.

Within this region, DeKalb County’s positivity rate increased to 5.5%, Lee County’s rate increased to 2.9%, and Whiteside County’s went up to 4.4%.

Hospitalizations decreased or remained stable one out of the past 10 days in this region. The region is up to 94 total COVID-19 hospitalizations.

The North-Central (Bureau, Fulton, Grundy, Henderson, Henry, Kendall, Knox, La Salle, Livingston, Marshall, McDonough, McLean, Mercer, Peoria, Putnam, Rock Island, Stark, Tazewell, Warren and Woodford counties) region’s positivity rate decreased to 5.6%.

Within this region, La Salle County’s seven-day positivity rate increased to 4.7%. Currently, 17% of ICU beds are available. Hospitalizations have increased 10 out of the past 10 days in this region. The region is up to a total of 236 COVID-19 patients in the hospital.

Chicago’s positivity rate fell to 4.1%. Currently, 16% of ICU beds are available. Hospitalizations decreased or remained stable for one out of the past 10 days.

Suburban Cook County’s positivity rate fell to 4.7%. Currently, 17% of ICU beds are available. Hospitalizations decreased or remained stable one out of the past 10 days in this region.