Here’s where each health region in northern Illinois stands as of Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2020

The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 2,157 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 37 additional deaths Wednesday. That is the highest number of COVID-19 deaths in the state since July 7.

The state received the results of 50,362 COVID-19 tests in the 24 hours leading up to Wednesday afternoon, marking a relatively high day for testing in Illinois. The seven-day rolling average of Illinois’ positivity rate decreased slightly to 4.0%.

Illinois now has seen 225,627 total cases of the virus and 7,954 people have lost their lives. A total of 3,831,412 tests have been conducted since the start of the pandemic.

As of late Tuesday, Illinois had 1,573 COVID-19 patients in the hospital. Of those, 350 were in intensive care units, and 132 were on ventilators.

Regional update: According to a July 15 update to the governor's COVID-19 response plan, the state will be tracking public health metrics in a slightly different way to monitor any potential resurgences of COVID-19. Additional restrictions can be placed on any of the state's 11 health regions if the region sustains an increase in its average positivity rate for seven days out of a ten day period.

A region may also become more restrictive if there is a seven-day increase in hospital admissions for COVID-19-related illness or a reduction in hospital medical/surgical beds or ICU capacity below 20%. If a region reports three consecutive days with greater than an 8% average positivity rate, additional infection mitigation will be considered through a tiered system of restriction guidelines offered by the IDPH.

The North Suburban region (McHenry and Lake counties) has seen two days of positivity increases and two days of hospital admission increases. The region’s positivity rate remained flat at 5.8%. Currently, 37% of medical/surgical beds are available and 51% of ICU beds.

The West Suburban region (DuPage and Kane counties) has seen five days of positivity increases and two days of hospital admission increases. The region’s positivity rate decreased slightly to 5.6%. Currently, 35% of medical/surgical beds are available and 49% of ICU beds.

The South Suburban region (Will and Kankakee counties) has seen six days of positivity increases and one day of hospital admission increases. The region’s positivity rate decreased slightly to 8.3%. This means the region is now subject to additional mitigation measures from the IDPH beginning Wednesday, and has two weeks to get down to 6.5% or it will face additional mitigations. Currently, 30% of the region’s medical/surgical beds are available and 33% of ICU beds.

The North region (Boone, Carroll, DeKalb, Jo Daviess, Lee, Ogle, Stephenson, Whiteside and Winnebago counties) has seen seven days of positivity increase – meeting one of the state's criteria for stricter mitigation measures – and two days of hospital admission increases. The region's positivity rate remained flat at 5.0%. Currently, 47% of medical/surgical beds are available and 52% of ICU beds.

The North-Central region (Bureau, Fulton, Grundy, Henderson, Henry, Kendall, Knox, La Salle, Livingston, Marshall, McDonough, McLean, Mercer, Peoria, Putnam, Rock Island, Stark, Tazewell, Warren and Woodford counties) has seen six days of positivity increases and two days of hospital admission increases. The region's positivity rate increased slightly to 6.5%. Currently, 36% of medical/surgical beds are available and 44% of ICU beds.

Chicago has seen four days of positivity increases and five days of hospital admission increases. The region's positivity rate decreased slightly to 5.3%. Currently, 26% of medical/surgical beds are available and 43% of ICU beds.

Suburban Cook County has seen five days of positivity increases and five days of hospital admission increases. The region's positivity rate remained flat at 6.8%. Currently, 33% of medical/surgical beds are available and 37% of ICU beds.

Newly reported deaths include:

- Bureau County: 1 male 90s

- Cook County: 1 female under 20, 1 female 70s, 2 males 70s, 4 females 80s, 1 male 90s

- DuPage County: 1 male 70s

- Kane County: 2 males 70s, 2 females 90s

- Lake County: 1 male 50s

- La Salle County: 1 female 80s

- Livingston County: 1 female 80s

- Macon County: 1 female 60s, 1 female 70s

- Morgan County: 1 female 80s

- Peoria County: 1 female 90s

- Perry County: 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s

- Pope County: 1 female 60s

- Rock Island County: 1 female 60s, 2 females 80s, 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s

- St. Clair County: 1 female 70s, 1 female 90s

- Warren County: 1 male 70s

- Will County: 1 male 60s, 1 female 90s

- Williamson County: 1 male 80s

- Winnebago County: 1 female 70s