New Illinois COVID-19 cases top 2,000 for 3rd day in a row

After running around 1,500 new positive COVID-19 cases a day for the first four days of the week, new cases climbed well above 2,000 for the third day in a row Saturday.

The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 2,441 new confirmed cases and 23 additional confirmed deaths. The state reported 2,257 cases Thursday and 2,514 cases Friday.

Among the dead, nine were from Cook County, 3 from DuPage County and the rest from downstate.

IDPH is reporting a total of 286,326 cases, including 8,588 deaths. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from Sept. 19-25 is 3.6%. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 65,217 specimens for a total of 5,428,688.

As of Friday night, 1,597 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 355 patients were in the ICU and 141 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators. Numbers in all three categories were down from the day before.

All data are provisional and subject to change.