New COVID-19 cases exceed 3,000 for the first time since May

The number of new COVID-19 cases in a day exceeded 3,000 Thursday for the first time since mid-May.

State health officials announced 32 more Illinois residents have died from COVID-19, while another 3,059 new cases were diagnosed. The new cases come from 72,491 test results, moving the state's seven-day rolling average infection rate to 3.7%.

The state reported 5,368 new cases on one day in early September, but that was after computer issues were remedied, allowing the Illinois Department of Public Health to finally input several days' worth of cases. May 14 was the last time the state recorded more than 3,000 new cases for a single day, according to IDPH records.

The state's death toll now stands at 8,910 from the respiratory disease as 310,700 people have been infected by the virus since the outbreak began.

The state is averaging 2,180 new cases a day over the past seven days. Less than a month ago, the state was averaging less than 1,700 new cases a day.

More than a third of Thursday's new cases came from Chicago and suburban Cook County, according to IDPH figures. The five suburban collar counties accounted for another 20% of the new cases. The remaining 46% of the new cases were reported in downstate counties.

Tiny Johnson County, near the southern tip of the state, had never seen the number of new cases reported in a single day reach double digits until today, when 41 of the 44 tests returned were positive. The county has recorded 240 cases of COVID-19 since the outbreak began, and more than half of those have been diagnosed since the beginning of September, according to IDPH records.

"We are looking at this as community spread for the most part," said Shawnna Rhine, community outreach coordinator at the Southern Seven Health Department. "We're seeing it widespread and we're just advising everyone that lives in the county to follow safety guidelines."

Rhine said she didn't have information about what might have caused the uptick. IDPH is bringing a mobile testing clinic to Anna on Friday to offer free testing to individuals in the area.

Johnson County is just a few miles from the borders of both Missouri and Kentucky, which are among 22 states - including Illinois - where the seven-day average number of new cases exceeds 15 for every 100,000 people.

Illinois' rate is 17 new cases per 100,000 residents. Missouri and Kentucky are averaging 22 and 20 new cases a day this week for every 100,000 residents, respectively. Indiana's rate is 16 per 100,000. Iowa is averaging 24 new cases a day for the past week for every 100,000 residents.

But Wisconsin has one of the highest per capita infection rates in the nation, averaging 41 new cases a day for every 100,000 residents, which has worried health officials in Illinois.

"Illinois has the lowest positivity rate compared to our neighboring states, and the governor has warned Illinoisans traveling to those states to abide by the mitigations we have in place in Illinois, like wearing a mask and watching your distance," said Jordan Abudayyeh, press secretary for Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. "The discrepancies in responses we see across state lines only highlight the need for a national response rooted in science, instead of a patchwork of state policies during an international pandemic."

According to figures released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Wisconsin has recorded the fourth highest number of new cases in the United States over the past week with 17,066 new infections. Only California, Texas and Florida have reported more new cases during that time, but those are the three most populated states in the country. Wisconsin ranks 20th in population, according to the most recently available census data.

"We're monitoring the situation in neighboring Wisconsin closely and are in close communication with our hospital systems to assure that Lake County residents will continue to have access to the care they need," said Hannah Goering, a Lake County Health Department spokeswoman. "At this time, hospital admissions over the past month have been stable in our region. In the meantime, we urge all residents to continue to take precautions wherever they go."