Pritzker cautiously hopeful Illinois nearing peak of current COVID-19 surge

Gov. JB Pritzker said Tuesday he is hopeful Illinois may be nearing the peak of its current COVID-19 surge, but cautioned not to “jump the gun” as new cases and hospitalizations start to slow.

As of Monday, 2,266 Illinoisans were in the hospital with COVID-19, an increase of 105 from the prior week. Of the patients in the hospital this week, 537 were in the ICU, an increase of 12 from the prior week, and 301 patients were on ventilators, an increase of 53.

“New hospitalizations just recently started flattening, which is great,” he told reporters at an unrelated event in Decatur. “I’m very hopeful, and I pray for it every day, that we can head back down and fewer mitigations and everybody getting back to a more normal way of life.”

Illinois reintroduced its mask mandate in indoor public settings on Monday in hopes of combating the surge fueled by the delta variant.

The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 4,871 new COVID-19 cases and 26 more deaths on Tuesday.

The new cases bring the state’s total to 1,522,942. The death toll is 23,953.

About 76.8 percent of eligible Illinoisans ages 12 and older have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 59.6 percent are fully vaccinated.

Illinois vaccinators have administered 13,921,400 COVID-19 vaccines, per state data. The seven-day average of doses administered is 39,802.

The seven-day statewide positivity rate for cases as a percent of total tests is 5.1 percent. The seven-day statewide test positivity using the number of COVID-19 positive tests over total tests is 5.7 percent.