COVID-19 update: 53 more deaths, while 79,704 more get vaccine
The Illinois Department of Public Health on Saturday reported 2,092 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in Illinois, including 53 additional deaths.
The rate of vaccinations is continuing to pick up, but as more people become eligible for their second shots, the number of appointments available for first shots will decline, state officials warned.
On Friday, 79,704 doses were administered statewide, health officials said. The 7-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily now is 61,384 doses, up 32 percent from the 49,909 daily rate of a week ago.
Starting this week though, local health departments and other vaccine providers will begin receiving a larger share of vaccine reserved for second doses to accommodate a rising number of people needing that second dose, state health officials said.
As such, providers will receive smaller shares of the vaccine for first doses. Allocations of first-dose medication likely will increase again in March, officials said.
Both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines require a second dose to be up to 95% effective. Second doses need to be administered three weeks after the first dose for those who receive the Moderna vaccine, and four weeks for those who receive Pfizer.
The total number of doses administered in Illinois has risen to more than 1.72 million as of Friday night, officials said. More than 2.57 million vaccine doses have been delivered to providers in Illinois.
Six deaths were reported in Cook County, seven in DuPage County, four in Lake County and one in Will County, according to new data at dph.illinois.gov. No new deaths were reported in Kane or McHenry counties.
That brings the total of cases in Illinois since the crisis started to more than 1.16 million. The state's death total has reached 19,926, officials announced.
Illinois hospitals were treating 1,892 people with COVID-19 as of Friday night. Of those, 425 patients were in intensive care units and 202 were on ventilators.
Labs processed 84,990 virus tests in the most recent 24-hour period for which data was available.