State reports 26 new COVID-19 deaths, another 462 infected

Another 26 Illinois residents have died from COVID-19 and 462 people are newly diagnosed as having the disease, Illinois health officials announced Monday.

The totals are lower than the seven-day average of 601 new daily cases and 50 deaths. However, daily counts often are at their lowest on Mondays before rebounding slightly later in the week.

Since the outbreak began, the state's death toll from the virus is 6,671. Meanwhile, 137,224 people have tested positive in Illinois, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

The state is reporting a 94% recovery rate from the disease, but officials announced 204 "probable" deaths from COVID-19 since the outbreak began, up 23 from last week. Health officials are labeling deaths as probable for anyone who succumbed to COVID-19 symptoms, but never had a test to confirm the disease.

State health officials believe another 1,000 people were infected, as well. They were reported as symptomatic, but never tested.

The state is set to loosen restrictions on Friday, which will include allowing gatherings of 50 people or fewer, up from the current 10. Infection rates are being monitored daily to make sure cases aren't surging as people begin to mingle more.

Over the last week, just under 2.5% of all the COVID-19 tests taken in Illinois were positive for the virus.

In the suburbs, only DuPage County's infection rate - 2.2% over the past seven days - is lower than the state's.

Kane County's infection rate is highest in the suburbs at 4.9%, according to IDPH figures. In the past seven days, 302 of the 6,140 tests taken by Kane County residents came back positive. Aurora, the state's second largest city, accounts for a large chunk of those positive test results. Since the outbreak began, more than 88% of Aurora's 3,738 confirmed cases were reported in the Kane County portion of the city.

The next highest infection rate is in suburban Cook County at 3.7%, where 1,208 tests were positive from a batch of 32,868 tests results reported over the last week.

The infection rate in Lake County was 2.9% for the past week, while IDPH reported a 2.8% infection rate in Will County and 2.6% in McHenry County.

The statewide seven-day rolling average infection rate remains at 2.5%, where it's been for the previous two days.