Illinois surpasses 28,000 COVID-19 deaths, as hospitalizations hit all-time high again

COVID-19 has now killed more than 28,000 Illinois residents.

Illinois Department of Public Health officials reported the bleak milestone Tuesday, after 79 more COVID-19 deaths were confirmed.

The state now has 28,077 confirmed COVID-19 deaths, while another 3,235 are considered "probable" deaths caused by the virus. A probable death means someone's symptoms were similar to that of someone sickened by the virus but there's not yet a laboratory confirmation of the infection.

More than 1,000 Illinois residents have died from COVID-19 over the past 20 days, according to IDPH records. The previous 1,000 deaths took place over a 37-day period, state data shows.

The state is averaging 56 deaths a day over the past week. A month ago, the state's seven-day COVID-19 mortality average was 28 deaths a day.

IDPH officials also reported 6,600 COVID-19 patients are being treated in Illinois hospitals, another all-time high.

Of those hospitalized, 1,118 are in intensive care, which is 2.3% more than a week ago, according to Illinois Department of Public Health figures.

IDPH records also show just three staffed ICU beds are available at hospitals in Will and Kankakee counties, the fewest ever during the pandemic.

Less than 10% of all staffed ICU beds at suburban Cook County hospitals are open.

Hospitals in two other suburban health regions - which includes DuPage and Kane counties in one and Lake and McHenry counties in the other - are reporting fewer than 15% of staffed ICU beds available.

Another 24,423 new COVID-19 cases were diagnosed as well Tuesday, bringing the total number of infections since the outset of the pandemic to 2,263,166.

The state's seven-day case positivity rate is at 13.2%, up from 12.8% the day before.

Case positivity is the percentage of test results that yield a new case of the disease. A seven-day average is used to account for any anomalies in the daily reporting of those figures.

IDPH officials also reported 50,315 more doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered statewide.

Vaccine providers in Illinois have now administered 19,357,296 doses of the vaccine since they became available in December 2020.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now reporting that 64% of the state's 12.7 million residents are fully vaccinated. Of those fully vaccinated, 38.3% have received a booster dose as well.