Illinois sets new state record for patients in the hospital with COVID-19

The Illinois Department of Public Health reported the state had a new state record of 6,294 people in the hospital with COVID-19 as of late Sunday. Of those, 1,086 were in intensive care units, and 652 were on ventilators.

In a news conference on Monday afternoon, Gov. JB Pritzker said 85% of hospitalizations and 95% of ICU admissions for patients with COVID-19 were in unvaccinated patients.

“It is frustrating and tragic that two years into the pandemic with multiple available and free life-saving vaccines that we are once again in this horrible position,” Pritzker said.

Pritzker said it was time for those who have not been vaccinated or wearing masks to use the tools available to them to help mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, adding that hospital workers were in need of more people to get vaccinated to help end the pandemic.

“I don’t know how much more they can withstand,” Pritzker said of hospital workers.

None of the state’s 11 health care regions are out of staffed, available ICU beds. But three of the regions – Region 1 (which includes DeKalb County, Sauk Valley and Rockford), Region 7 (Will and Kankakee counties) and Region 5 (southern Illinois) – are all below 10 available staffed ICU beds. Statewide, 36.4% of the state’s ICU beds are occupied by COVID-19 patients.

Hospitals were still battling the effects of the delta variant on hospitalizations, IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said, and the more contagious omicron variant has begun to take over as the dominant variant of COVID-19.

An average of 550 people per day are admitted to the hospital with COVID-19, and Ezike said 90% of those people are not vaccinated. Even if the omicron variant is intrinsically less virulent, it’s not driving down hospital numbers.

“We are not seeing fewer people in the hospital because there are so many more people with [COVID-19] period,” Ezike said. “Our hospitals are completely overwhelmed.”

A.J. Wilhelmi, president of the Illinois Health and Hospital Association, said hospitals across the state have postponed non-emergency surgeries to battle the overwhelming numbers of COVID-19-positive hospitalizations.

“We cannot emphasize this enough: Hospitals and health care workers and their government partners cannot end this pandemic on their own,” Wilhelmi said “It takes everybody.”

the IDPH reported 89,195 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 177 additional deaths since Thursday’s update. IDPH does not update their data dashboard on weekends or holidays.

Since Thursday’s update, the state administered 136,961 shots.

The state received the results of 709,963 COVID-19 tests over this period. The state’s positivity rate went up to 12.8%

Illinois community testing sites are now open six days a week. A full list of sites can be found on the IDPH website.

Illinois has seen 2,238,743 total cases of the virus, and 27,998 people have died. The state has conducted a total of 45,179,593 tests since the start of the pandemic.

Vaccine update: As of Monday, the IDPH reported a total of 21,333,335 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed statewide, with 19,313,238 vaccines administered.

As of Monday, 7,725,270 Illinoisans have been fully vaccinated, or 60.63% of the population. Illinois has a population of 12,741,080 people. There also have been 3,158,232 booster doses administered in Illinois.

CDC numbers:

Among Illinois residents 5 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 8,114,429 (68%)

At Least 1 Dose: 9,118,294 (76.5%)

Among Illinois residents 12 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 7,888,934 (72.8%)

At Least 1 Dose: 8,788,821 (81.1%)

Among Illinois residents 18 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 7,314,277 (74.2%)

At Least 1 Dose: 8,149,440 (82.7%)

Among Illinois residents 65 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 1,769,717 (86.6%)

At Least 1 Dose: 1,942,103 (95%)

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: 62.89%
• Suburban Cook: 66.98%
• Lake: 64.50%
• McHenry: 61.41%
• DuPage: 70.88%
• Kane: 61.16%
• Will: 61.60%
• Kendall: 63.41%
• La Salle: 54.40%
• Grundy: 53.44%
• DeKalb: 52.69%
• Ogle: 52.72%
• Lee: 55.44%
• Whiteside: 48.91%
• Bureau: 52.56%

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 increased to 16.2%. Currently, 15% of ICU beds are available.

Within this region, McHenry County’s seven-day positivity rate average increased to 18.1%. Lake County, which does about two-thirds of the testing in the region, is reporting a rolling average of 15.4%.

Hospitalizations have increased seven out of the past 10 days in this region. The region is up to a total of 284 COVID-19 patients in the hospital.

The West Suburban (DuPage and Kane counties) region’s positivity rate increased to 19.4%. Currently, 13% of ICU beds are available.

Within this region, Kane County’s seven-day positivity rate increased to 20.9%, and DuPage County’s increased to 18.7%.

Hospitalizations increased each of the past 10 days in this region. The region is up to 614 total COVID-19 patients in the hospital.

The South Suburban (Will and Kankakee counties) region’s positivity rate increased to 20.7%. Currently, 4% of ICU beds are available.

Hospitalizations increased each of the past 10 days in this region. The region is up to 337 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 increased to 16.1%.

Currently, 6% of ICU beds are available.

Within this region, DeKalb County’s positivity rate increased to 21.3%, Lee County’s rate increased to 11%, and Whiteside County’s went up to 14.1%.

Hospitalizations increased nine out of the past 10 days in this region. The region is up to a pandemic-record 309 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 increased to 19.1%.

Within this region, La Salle County’s seven-day positivity rate increased to 18%.

Currently, 12% of ICU beds are available. Hospitalizations increased each of the past 10 days. The region is up to a total of 486 COVID-19 patients in the hospital.

Chicago’s positivity rate increased to 18.5%. Currently, 11% of ICU beds are available. Hospitalizations increased each of the past 10 days.

Suburban Cook County’s positivity rate increased to 18.3%. Currently, 10% of ICU beds are available. Hospitalizations increased each of the past 10 days.