SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) announced Friday afternoon as of last night, 6,111 in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 1,196 patients were in the ICU and 604 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
It came as TIER 3 mitigation efforts began Friday in Illinois. IDPH is now reporting 13,012 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in Illinois, including 126 additional deaths.
Two of today’s deaths occurred in Will County.
Hospitals in Will County are reporting COVID hospitalizations continuing to climb. In the last 24-hours, Joliet based hospitals reported a combined 200 COVID patients with several awaiting results, with 123 at Silver Cross in New Lenox and 77 reporting inpatients at AMITA Health Saint Joseph Medical Center.
Dr. Kamaljit Singh, of NorthShore University HealthSystem, spoke to reporters during Thursday afternoon’s COVID-19 daily update.
“Our hospitals and staff, including hospitals across the state and country, are close to a breaking point,” Dr. Singh said Thursday afternoon, adding ICU beds are filling at the hospital at exponential speed. “Our staff are already exhausted after nine months of a physical, mental and emotionally exhausting battle.”
For the third straight day, Kankakee remains in national spotlight recording the fourth worst outbreak in the U.S. Friday, according to the New York Times. Ottawa Illinois eclipsed Kankakee Thursday morning for the top spot in Illinois.
Region 7 rolling seven day positivity fell ever so slightly Friday, down from 20.7% Thursday to 20.6%. In the last 24 hours of reporting data, 4,734 residents in Region 7 received COVID-19 testing, resulting in 832 positive tests. Hospital availability continues to fall in Region 7, marking the worst in all of Illinois. Med surge bed avaliblity is now 11% while ICU beds fell to 14% Friday.
The state is already approaching yet another milestone in the COVID-19 pandemic, nearing 650,000 cases to date in the pandemic just days after hitting 600,000. Currently, IDPH is reporting 634,395 cases in Illinois, including 11,304 deaths.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from November 13 – November 19, 2020 is 11.5%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from November 13 – November 19, 2020 is 13.4%.
