Illinois reports fewer COVID-19 deaths, cases as holiday slows data collection
The number of COVID-19 deaths in Illinois reported Saturday dropped sharply, though the decrease probably related to slow reporting over the New Year's holiday, the state reported in a news release.
The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 29 deaths, down from the average of more than 100 over the last week, and also reported 4,762 new confirmed and probable cases.
Among the deaths, Cook County reported five, DuPage County two, Kane County one, McHenry County 3 and Will County one.
The state is reporting a total of 975,352 cases, including 16,674 deaths. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 61,987 specimens for a total 13,436,652.
As of Friday night, 3,799 in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. That was a decline of 157 patients from Thursday. Of those, 783 patients were in the ICU, a decline of 25, and 458 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators, a decline of five.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total tests from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1 is 8.3%, a number that has been steadily rising in small increments in recent days. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity for the same period is 9.6%