COVID-19 hospital bed usage is highest since June 19
The graph shows the number of hospital beds in use by COVID-19 patients, non-COVID patients and the availability rate of beds throughout the pandemic. (Credit: Jerry Nowicki of Capitol News Illinois)
Average daily case counts increase for second consecutive seven-day period
By JERRY NOWICKI
Capitol News Illinois
jnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com
SPRINGFIELD — COVID-19 hospitalizations rose above 1,651 for the first time in seven days at the end of Wednesday, increasing by 140 from the day before and by 187 from its June 27 low.
The number is also the highest single-day tally for hospital bed usage since June 19, when there were 1,699 people hospitalized with the virus.
The number of intensive care unit beds used by COVID-19 patients declined to 349 at the same time, however, decreasing by 35 from the day before and marking a new low since the state began reporting the figure daily on April 12. There were 195 ventilators in use by COVID-19 patients at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, an increase of six from the day prior and the second straight day the number saw an increase.
The Illinois Department of Public Health also announced 869 new confirmed cases of the virus among 30,262 tests completed in the previous 24 hours, making for a one-day positivity rate of 2.9 percent. The seven-day rolling positivity rate from June 26 to July 2 remained at 2.6 percent.
The seven-day period ending July 2 averaged 778 new cases announced per day, marking the second straight weeklong period in which the number of daily new cases has increased. From June 19-25, there were 665 new cases reported per day. From June 12-18, there were 596 new cases reported per day.
In total, the state has seen 144,882 confirmed cases of the virus since the pandemic first arrived in Illinois in March. There were another 36 COVID-19-related deaths reported Thursday as well, bringing the total to 6,987 in the state. A total of 1.66 million tests have been completed in Illinois.
According to IDPH, the recovery rate is 94 percent for those 42 days removed from a positive test.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government and distributed to more than 400 newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
Jerry Nowicki
Jerry has more than five years of experience in and around state government and nearly 10 years of experience in news. He grew up in south suburban Evergreen Park and received a bachelor’s degree from Illinois State University and a master’s degree online from Purdue University.
Other posts by Jerry Nowicki