COVID 19, Illinois updated today: IL reports 7,574 new coronavirus cases, 66 deaths

Public health officials in Illinois reported 66 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, as well as 66 deaths on Friday.

See: Lower Illinois positive rates may be a sign that mitigation measures are working, Pritzker says

The total number of cases in Illinois is currently 705,063, with a total of 12,029 deaths.

According to a review of data by the Associated Press, it took only nine days for public health officials to record 1,000 deaths. This coincides with late April and early May, the most deadly periods of the previous pandemic.
Authorities said the state processed 77,130 specimens over a 24-hour period. A total of 10,289,223 test specimens have been tested since the start of the pandemic in Illinois.

The state-wide preliminary test positive rate for the seven days from November 20th to November 26th is 12.2%.

As of Thursday night, 5,829 people in Illinois were reported hospitalized for COVID-19. Of these, 1,215 patients were in the COVID-19 ICU and 698 COVID-19 patients were on mechanical ventilation.

See: Authorities urge virtual Thanksgiving celebrations to prevent the spread of the virus

Officials in Illinois and across the country have begged Americans to limit their Thanksgiving holiday trips to help prevent the outbreak of the prevailing coronavirus from spreading even faster.

However, millions of people ignored the warning and left home this week. Experts fear that cold weather will mean more infections and deaths in the coming weeks as cold weather brings people closer to indoors.

The virus returned aggressively in October after a quiet summer regained calm. Illinois recorded the 11,000th death on November 18, after recording 1,000 deaths in just 13 days, and then increased by another 1,000 to 12,000 in the next nine days.

This is consistent with the pandemic’s lowest spring figures, where deaths increased from 2,000 to 4,000 in the 17 days from April 29th to May 15th.

Similarly, the spread of infection has not slowed. It took the same 17 days for the number of confirmed cases to increase from 500,000 to 700,000. 159 days have passed since the beginning of the daily new case reporting period, March 5, and 200,000 cases were recorded on August 13.

The state doubled that number, reaching 400,000 in 77 days and jumping to 600,000 in 19 days.

Related: Location of COVID-19 inspection in Chicago area

Virus testing is much more available than in spring. The 77,000 test results recorded on Friday were the first day when the total fell below 90,000 in almost three weeks, with an average daily result of over 100,000.

However, state health officials claim that increased testing can hardly explain the exponential growth of cases.

The difficult fall has increased the capacity of hospitals, and more importantly, there is a shortage of medical staff, while there is no borrowing from other states like last spring. Belleville News-Democrat reported on Friday that 87% of the beds in a manned hospital in the eastern metro region (a suburb of Illinois, St. Louis) were full.

The number of people hospitalized in Illinois has fallen below 6,000 for the first time since November 18, but the remaining are ill. The 1,215 patients in the intensive care unit increased by 6% in these 9 days. The most serious illness (those who need mechanical ventilation to breathe) fell to 698 on Friday, an increase of 28% from November 18.

The deaths reported on Thursday are:
-Bureau County: One man from the 90’s
-Clark County: One man from the 80’s
-Clay County: One woman in the 90’s
-Clinton County: One man from the 80’s
-Cook County: 1 male in 30s, 1 male in 40s, 2 females in 50s, 2 males in 50s, 3 males in 60s, 3 females in 70s, 3 males in 70s, 4 females in 80s Name, 2 men in their 80s, 4 women in their 90s, 1 man in their 90s
-DeKalb County: One woman in the 80’s
-DuPage County: 2 men in their 70s, 1 man in their 80s, 1 woman in their 90s
-Fayette County: 1 woman in her 60s
-Hardin County: One man from the 80’s
-Henry County: One woman in the 80’s
-Kane County: 1 woman in her 70s

-Kendall County: 2 women in the 90’s, 1 man in the 90’s
-Lake County: 1 woman in her 60s, 1 woman in her 70s, 1 man in her 70s, 1 woman in her 80s, 1 man in her 80s
-LaSalle County: 1 man in the 80’s
-Livingston County: 1 man in his 60s
-Macon County: Two 80’s Men
-Marion County: One woman in the 70’s
-McHenry County: 1 man in the 80’s
-Monroe County: 1 man in the 80’s
-Morgan County: One man from the 80’s
-Rock Island County: One Woman in the 80’s
-Sarine District: One woman in the 80’s
-Vermilion County: A woman from the 70’s
-Will County: 1 woman in her 60s, 3 women in her 70s, 1 woman in her 80s, 1 woman in her 90s
-Winnebago County: 1 man in the 80’s
-Woodford County: One Woman in the 70’s