Coronavirus

Illinois health officials report 2,508 new cases of coronavirus and 67 new deaths

The Illinois Department of Public Health announced 2,508 more people have tested positive for COVID-19 and 67 more people have died statewide.

Illinois has seen a total of 4,856 deaths across the state during the pandemic, officials reported Sunday. A total of 110,304 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus.

An additional 25,674 have been tested for the virus, bringing the total number of administered tests to 747,921, IDPH said in a news release.

The statewide rolling seven-day rate of tests coming back positive from May 15-21 was 12%.

The latest IDPH metrics showed that Southern Illinois is on track to start Phase 3 of the Restore Illinois plan at the end of the current stay-at-home order on Saturday. Phase 3 includes the reopening of manufacturing, offices, retail, barbershops and salons with proper safety precautions and groups of 10 or fewer will be allowed.

The requirements to reopen under Phase 3 are:

  • At or under a 20% positivity rate of all COVID-19 tests and increasing no more than 10% over a 14-day period,
  • No overall increase in hospital admissions for COVID-19-like illness for 28 days, and
  • Available surge capacity of at least 14% of ICU beds, medical and surgical beds and ventilators.

As of Sunday, southern Illinois was on pace on all three metrics:

  • A positivity rate of 4.8% and a decrease of 1.7 percentage points over a 14-day period
  • A 56.1% decrease in hospital admissions for COVID-like illness since May 1
  • A surge capacity of 45.9% of ICU beds, 41.5% of medical and surgical beds and 75.4% of ventilators.

This story was originally published May 24, 2020 at 2:48 PM.

Hana Muslic
Belleville News-Democrat
Hana Muslic has been a public safety reporter for the Belleville News-Democrat since August 2018, covering everything from crime and courts to accidents, fires and natural disasters. She is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s College of Journalism and her previous work can be found in The Lincoln Journal-Star and The Kansas City Star.
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