13 counties, plus Chicago, now at “medium” COVID-19 risk; masks advised for indoor public places

There are now 13 counties, plus the city of Chicago, that are at “medium” risk for COVID-19, according to new data from the Illinois Department of Public Health released Friday.

The counties under “medium” risk are: Cook, Lake, Will, McHenry, Kane, Kendall, DeKalb, Winnebago, Champaign, Douglas, McLean, Logan and Sangamon. It’s a week-over-week increase of eight counties being upgraded to medium risk.

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.

“The public should pay close attention to these rising Community Levels, but we would stress this not a cause for alarm,” IDPH Acting Director Amaal Tokars said in a news release. “People who are at risk of severe outcomes should exercise caution. And if someone does test positive, then they should consult with a healthcare provider about obtaining a prescription for one of the therapeutic treatments that are widely available. The treatments are much more effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths when they are taken early in the course of the illness.”

IDPH reported 7,709 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 10 additional deaths Friday. It’s the most new cases in a single day since February 4.

For Thursday, the state administered 19,768 vaccines.

From the IDPH’s data dashboard:

Case rate per 100,000: 34.3 (+2.1 from Thursday)

Percentage of ICU beds available: 21%

COVID-19 diagnosed hospital admissions (7-day rolling average): 67 (-2 from Thursday)

Weekly deaths reported: 46

Illinois has seen 3,169,315 total cases of the virus, and 33,660 people have died.

As of late Thursday, Illinois had 808 COVID-19 patients in the hospital. Of those, 66 were in intensive care units, and 24 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 26,873,845 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed statewide, with 22,018,536 vaccines administered.

As of Friday, 8,251,296 Illinoisans have been fully vaccinated, or 64.76% of the population. Illinois has a population of 12,741,080 people.

CDC numbers:

Among Illinois residents 5 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 8,718,007 (73.1%)

At Least 1 Dose: 9,722,425 (81.5%)

Among Illinois residents 12 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 8,304,169 (76.6%)

At Least 1 Dose: 9,255,660 (85.4%)

Among Illinois residents 18 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 7,668,890 (77.8%)

At Least 1 Dose: 8,558,187 (86.9%)

Among Illinois residents 65 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 1,814,203 (88.8%)

At Least 1 Dose: 1,984,781 (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: 68.30%

Suburban Cook: 72.44%

Lake: 69.49%

McHenry: 65.33%

DuPage: 75.11%

Kane: 66.05%

Will: 66.30%

Kendall: 68.58%

La Salle: 58.09%

Grundy: 57.36%

DeKalb: 56.30%

Ogle: 56.64%

Lee: 58.67%

Whiteside: 51.63%

Bureau: 56.43%