Illinois has the 18th-highest jump in new cases in the nation this week
Illinois recorded 67.2% more new COVID-19 cases this week than in the previous seven days, the 18th-highest weekly increase in the nation, according to figures updated Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Nationally, this week's COVID-19 cases rose by 63.6%, according to the CDC.
Four states — Florida, Texas, California and Missouri — account for nearly 50% of all new cases. Florida alone is responsible for one of every five new COVID-19 cases, about 22.1%, CDC data shows. Last week, the state accounted for 17.5% of new cases.
California accounted for more than 10% of the country's new cases last week, but 8% this week. Los Angeles reimposed mask mandates last week.
Illinois is responsible for 2.3% of the country's new cases, but that's up slightly from last week, the CDC data shows.
Health officials blame the uptick in cases on unvaccinated communities in parts of those high-reporting states. Illinois is bordered by Missouri, which is averaging 206 new cases a week for every 100,000 residents, the second-highest per capita rate in the country behind Arkansas.
“This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said during a media briefing Friday. “We are seeing outbreaks in parts of the country that have low vaccination coverage. Communities that are fully vaccinated are generally faring well.”
Illinois vaccine providers administered 21,607 more COVID-19 vaccine doses, Illinois Department of Public Health officials reported Friday.
That brings the total number of vaccine doses administered in Illinois to 12,917,362, with 55.3% of the state's vaccine-eligible population of residents 12 and older now considered fully vaccinated, according to IDPH records.
Nationally, Illinois ranks in the middle of states with fully vaccinated eligible residents. Vermont leads with 75.6% of vaccine-eligible residents fully vaccinated, CDC records show.
Meanwhile, IDPH officials also reported seven more COVID-19 deaths, along with 676 new cases.
Since the start of the pandemic, the state's death toll from the virus is at 23,357, and 1,399,946 Illinois residents have been infected with the disease.
Illinois hospitals are treating 476 COVID-19 patients, 94 of whom are in intensive care.
The state's seven-day average case positivity rate is at 1.9%. Case positivity shows health officials the level of new infection within a certain population and is calculated as the percentage of new cases derived from a batch of test results. A seven-day average is used to account for anomalies in the daily reporting of those figures.