Illinois sees slight reduction in counties at ‘warning’ level for COVID-19

The number of Illinois’ 102 counties in the “warning” level for increased COVID-19 activity fell slightly last week, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

The 64 counties at the “warning” level are down from 67 counties the prior week.

The department also announced Friday that over 77 percent of Illinois adults have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Additionally, more than 60 percent of Illinois adults are fully vaccinated, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

About 75.4 percent of residents 12 and older have had at least one shot, and 58.4 percent are fully vaccinated.

Illinois vaccinators have administered 13,745,822 doses of vaccine. The seven-day average of doses administered is 33,564.

There were 24,682 new COVID-19 cases reported last week, a 15.7 percent increase from the prior week. There were 126 more deaths reported last week, a nearly 37 percent increase from the prior week.

The new cases bring the state’s total to 1,482,369 cases, while the death toll is 23,717.

The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total tests is 5.3 percent. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity rate is 6.1 percent.

As of Thursday, 2,000 Illinoisans were in the hospital with COVID-19, up 348 from the prior week.

It’s the first time hospitalizations have hit 2,000 since 2,060 hospitalizations were reported on May 4.

Of those patients in the hospital on Thursday, 468 were in the ICU, up 123 from the prior week, and 234 patients were on ventilators, up 72.

IDPH reported 2,412 cases of the B.1.617.2 variant, also known as the delta variant, as of Friday. Additionally, the department has started to report three delta sub-variants, AY.1, AY.2, and AY.3.

The department reported:

• Two cases of AY.1.
• 15 cases of AY. 2.
• 583 cases of AY.3.
• 7,039 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant, also known as the alpha variant, which was discovered in England in November.
• 112 cases of the B.1.351 variant, also known as the beta variant, which was discovered in South Africa in October.
• 2,674 cases of the P.1. variant, also known as the gamma variant, which was discovered among travelers from Brazil after arriving in Japan in January.