COVID-19 hospitalizations reach highest level since January

Hospitalizations for COVID-19 in Illinois have hit their highest level since last winter’s surge.

There were 2,582 individuals in Illinois hospitals with COVID-19 on Thursday, up 45 from Wednesday and an increase of 595 from the prior week. It’s the highest number of hospitalizations since 2,600 were reported on Jan. 29.

Of those patients in the hospital with COVID-19, 534 patients were in the ICU, up 153 from the prior week, and 221 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators, up 54 from the prior week.

The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 42,559 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 over last week. The seven-day average for new daily cases on Friday was 6,080, up 1,987 from the prior week.

There have now been 1,835,076 cases in the state.

Illinois has yet to report any cases of the omicron variant. Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said during a Sunday morning press conference she expected the first omicron case to be reported “within a number of days.”

“There are multiple examples of case investigation going on right now where we know that there are people who have been exposed to the omicron variant that we are doing aggressive case investigation, testing and contact tracing on,” Arwady said.

The death toll reached 26,535 after 182 COVID-related deaths were reported last week.

The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test is 4.7 percent. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity is 5.6 percent.

Approximately 69 percent of Illinoisans have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and 61 percent are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thirty-six percent of eligible Illinoisans have received a booster dose.

A total of 17,508,319 vaccines have been administered as of Thursday night. The seven-day average for doses administered is 54,387 doses.