74,372 get COVID-19 vaccine doses; state reports 16 more deaths, 1,510 new cases

State health officials reported 74,372 more COVID-19 vaccine inoculations Tuesday.

Statewide, providers have now administered 3,463,150 doses of the vaccine and fully vaccinated 1,194,320 people, according to Illinois Department of Public Health figures.

The state also received 329,430 additional doses of the vaccine. Health officials are reporting providers have administered more than 75% of the doses received in Illinois as of Monday.

The state is now averaging more than 92,000 vaccinations a day over the past seven days, according to state records.

Illinois is averaging more than 92,000 vaccine inoculations a day, but the state's caseload appears to be plateauing instead of shrinking.

— Jake Griffin (@DHJakeGriffin)

> vaccination site staged by the Federal Emergency Management Agency at the United Center opened Tuesday, as well, with 50,000 appointments booked and the capability to fully vaccinate 185,000 people. Initially, the site was to be open to all residents of Illinois, but state and federal officials changed course Sunday and will only allow future appointments to go to Chicago residents, plus an unspecified number to suburban Cook County residents.

State officials said mobile vaccination sites will be deployed in other parts of the state to make up for the lack of availability at the United Center, but they gave no details.

Meanwhile, 16 more people died of COVID-19 and 1,510 new cases of the disease were diagnosed. That brings the state's death toll to 20,781, with 1,201,027 residents who have been infected, according to state figures.

Deaths have averaged fewer than 30 a day over the past week, the lowest since mid-October 2020. At the peak of the second surge in December, the state was averaging more than 150 deaths a day.

Hospitals across the state are treating 1,177 COVID-19 patients, 263 of them in intensive care.

The statewide seven-day average case positivity rate also remained steady at 2.3%, health officials reported.

In the suburbs, case positivity rates are remaining steady for the most part, except in two counties.

In DuPage County, 4.1% of the COVID-19 tests taken in the past week have resulted in new cases of the disease. A week ago, the rate was 3.1%.

Conversely, Kane County has seen its seven-day case positivity rate drop from 4.9% a week ago to 3.8% Tuesday.

Case positivity measures the percentage of daily tests that result in new cases. A seven-day average is used to smooth out any anomalies in the daily reporting of new cases and test results.