2,157 new COVID-19 cases; death toll of 37 highest since July 7
New COVID-19 infections surged Wednesday with 2,157 more cases, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported, along with 37 additional deaths from the virus.
That's the highest number of deaths in a day since July 7, when 37 were counted. Statewide, fatalities reached 7,954 and total virus infections stand at 225,627.
Seventeen of the deaths were in Chicago and the collar counties, including one person younger than age 20. The other 20 deaths were downstate.
At a briefing Wednesday, the Cook County medical examiner's office announced a troubling milestone in reaching 10,061 death cases handled from all causes, compared to 6,274 for all of 2019, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said.
The county's 5,030 COVID-19 cases account for half this year's deaths, officials said.
Of those casualties, "the burden is felt disproportionately on communities of color," Preckwinkle said. "As a community, we must do better.
Black residents make up 33% of virus deaths in Cook, according to the medical examiner. Statewide, Black residents comprise 27% of virus deaths, IDPH data show.
Statewide, the death rate from COVID-19 is down compared to the spring. August averaged 18 deaths per day, compared to 99 per day averaged in May.
Two reasons are that treatments have improved since the disease first emerged, and the majority of patients entering hospitals now are younger and less likely to suffer complications, Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital physician Daniel Boyle said.
Daily cases of COVID-19 dwindled under a stay-at-home order this spring but, as the state reopens, numbers are growing.
In the last seven days, Illinois recorded 13,738 new cases, or an average of 1,962 a day. That's an 18% jump compared to Aug. 1 to 7, when 11,671 new infections were reported, or 1,667 on average.
Among the deaths in Cook County are a female under age 20; a woman and two men in their 70s; four women in their 80s; and a man in his 90s. Other infections in the suburbs included: a DuPage County man in his 70s; two Kane County males in their 70s and two females in their 90s; a Lake County man in his 50s; and a Will County man in his 60s and a woman in her 90s.
The seven-day average positivity rate for COVID-19 reached 4% with labs reporting 50,362 results in the last 24 hours. The daily positivity rate is 4.3%.
The state first exceeded 50,000 tests a day last week after hovering in the 40,000s during July. One reason is a new saliva COVID-19 test recently developed and being deployed at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the IDPH said.
Patients in Illinois hospitals with COVID-19 as of Tuesday night came to 1,573, higher than the seven-day average of 1,519.