Five Illinois counties at “medium” COVID-19 risk; hospitalizations rising

Five counties in Illinois are at “medium” risk for COVID-19: DuPage, Lake, Champaign, Logan and McLean, according to new data from the Illinois Department of Public Health released Friday.

That means persons who are elderly or immunocompromised (at risk of severe outcomes) are advised to wear a mask in indoor public places in those five counties.

IDPH acting director Amaal Tokars said the State of Illinois remains strongly positioned to respond in the event of a new COVID-19 surge. The department has been supporting pharmacies and healthcare providers in efforts to increase their inventories of various FDA-authorized treatment. There are over 2,200 treatment locations in Illinois - including all major retail pharmacies.

“The most important point we want to stress about COVID-19 treatments is that timing is essential, and the public should know that it is critically important to consult a healthcare provider and seek treatment immediately if you test positive,” Tokars said in a news release. “The treatments are widely available with a prescription, and they are much more effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths when they are taken early in the course of the illness.”

IDPH reported 5,955 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 15 additional deaths Friday.

It’s the most new cases in a single day since February 4. The state’s seven-day rolling average for new cases went up to 3,521 new cases per day, the highest average since Feb. 16.

For Thursday, the state administered 19,008 shots.

From the IDPH’s data dashboard:

Case rate per 100,000: 27.6 (+2.4 from Thursday)

Percentage of ICU beds available: 23%

COVID-19 diagnosed hospital admissions (7-day rolling average): 59 (+6 from Thursday)

Weekly deaths reported: 46

Illinois has seen 3,138,682 total cases of the virus, and 33,614 people have died.

As of late Thursday, Illinois had 714 COVID-19 patients in the hospital, the most since March 9. Of those, 75 were in intensive care units, and 32 were on ventilators.

County-by-county update: As of mid-April, the IDPH will provide a county-by-county update focusing on the case rate per 100,000 people, the percentage of ICU beds available, a rolling seven-day average of COVID-19 diagnosed hospital admissions and weekly deaths.

The definition of a COVID-19 diagnosed hospital admission is as follows: The seven-day average of daily number of hospital admissions given a diagnosis of COVID-19 as measured using the Illinois Syndromic Surveillance System.

Illinois collects all emergency department and inpatient visits through syndromic surveillance from all acute care hospitals in Illinois in near-real time. Data is presented with a three-day lag to allow time for diagnosis to be reported.

At the county level, a visit is counted by where the patient resides. A patient with multiple visits will be counted for each visit. Admissions may not be because of COVID-19 as the primary cause. Syndromic surveillance data is not the same source used by CDC to report COVID-19 hospital admissions data.

Vaccine update: As of Friday, the IDPH reported a total of 26,692,545 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed statewide, with 21,871,464 vaccines administered.

As of Friday, 8,243,313 Illinoisans have been fully vaccinated, or 64.70% of the population. Illinois has a population of 12,741,080 people.

CDC numbers:

Among Illinois residents 5 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 8,702,365 (73%)

At Least 1 Dose: 9,711,355 (81.4%)

Among Illinois residents 12 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 8,289,642 (76.5%)

At Least 1 Dose: 9,245,480 (85.3%)

Among Illinois residents 18 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 7,653,800 (77.7%)

At Least 1 Dose: 8,546,617 (86.7%)

Among Illinois residents 65 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 1,809,095 (88.5%)

At Least 1 Dose: 1,980,527 (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: 68.24%

Suburban Cook: 72.36%

Lake: 69.38%

McHenry: 65.26%

DuPage: 75.06%

Kane: 66.05%

Will: 66.24%

Kendall: 68.67%

La Salle: 58.09%

Grundy: 57.29%

DeKalb: 56.29%

Ogle: 56.59%

Lee: 58.62%

Whiteside: 51.56%

Bureau: 56.42%