IDPH: 29 counties at ‘high’ COVID-19 risk, more than double from last week

The Illinois Department of Public Health announced Friday 29 counties in the state are at a “high” risk for COVID-19, up from 12 a week ago. An additional 45 counties are at “medium” risk, down from 51 a week ago.

“Illinois is experiencing a significant rise in communities at elevated risk levels for COVID-19, including 29 counties at a high risk,” IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra said in a news release. “These elevated COVID-19 community levels, along with rising flu levels, are leading to a surge of respiratory infections and increased hospitalizations. I recommend all Illinoisians – and especially those most vulnerable including young children and individuals over 65 – take all preventative steps to protect themselves, their families and friends.”

The CDC recommends the following measures for people in areas that are rated at High Community Level for COVID-19 transmission:

• Wear a well-fitting mask indoors in public, regardless of vaccination status (including in K-12 schools and other indoor community settings)

• If you have household or social contact with someone at high risk for severe disease consider self-testing to detect infection before contact consider wearing a mask when indoors with them

• Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines and boosters

• Maintain improved ventilation throughout indoor spaces when possible

The IDPH announced 3,467 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and eight additional deaths.

As of late Thursday, Illinois had 1,582 COVID-19 patients in the hospital. Of those, 188 were in intensive care units, and 69 were on ventilators.

For Thursday, the state administered 17,747 vaccines.

Case rate per 100,000: 24 (up 0.2 from Thursday)

Percentage of ICU beds available: 14%

COVID-19-diagnosed hospital admissions (seven-day rolling average): 153 (down 4 from Thursday)

Weekly deaths reported: 56 (down 1 from the previous week)

Illinois has seen 3,906,801 total cases of the virus, and 35,550 people have died.

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.

Vaccine update: As of Friday, the IDPH reported a total of 26,301,575 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed statewide, with 25,491,566 vaccines administered.

As of Friday, 8,407,830 Illinoisans have been fully vaccinated, or 65.99% of the population. Illinois has a population of 12,741,080 people.

CDC numbers:

Among Illinois residents 5 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 8,934,722 (74.9%)

At Least 1 Dose: 9,887,429 (82.9%)

Among Illinois residents 12 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 8,487,534 (78.3%)

At Least 1 Dose: 9,382,825 (86.6%)

Among Illinois residents 18 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 7,832,051 (79.5%)

At Least 1 Dose: 8,664,550 (87.9%)

Among Illinois residents 65 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 1,858,431 (91%)

At Least 1 Dose: 2,008,369 (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: 69.35%

Suburban Cook: 73.58%

Lake: 71.48%

McHenry: 66.68%

DuPage: 76.33%

Kane: 67.10%

Will: 67.44%

Kendall: 70.64%

La Salle: 58.89%

Grundy: 58.31%

DeKalb: 56.96%

Ogle: 57.38%

Lee: 59.12%

Whiteside: 52.07%

Bureau: 57.12%