As Illinois logs highest COVID-19 counts since April, what now with booster shots?
Illinois is averaging more than 3,000 new COVID-19 cases a day for the first time since mid-April.
The state's seven-day rolling average for new cases stands at 3,046, a level the state hasn't reached since April 20, according to Illinois Department of Public Health records.
IDPH officials on Friday reported 3,479 more Illinois residents were diagnosed with COVID-19, while 20 more have died from the disease.
That brings the state's death toll from COVID-19 to 23,594, and 1,457,687 residents have been infected, according to Illinois Department of Public Health records.
Vaccines also are on the upswing. Providers across the state are averaging more than 30,000 shots a day, something that hasn't happened since July 3, records show. On Friday, IDPH reported a one-day tally of 47,565 shots given.
IDPH officials are reporting 57.6% of the vaccine-eligible population - residents 12 and older - are fully vaccinated, and 74.3% in that age group have received at least one dose.
Illinois hospitals are treating 1,652 COVID-19 patients, 345 of whom are in intensive care, according to IDPH figures.
The state's seven-day case positivity rate is now at 5.1%. Case positivity is the percentage of new cases derived from a batch of test results. A seven-day average is used to account for any anomalies in the daily reporting of those figures.
What with boosters?
All doses being administered are going to first and second shots. But the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted Friday to grant immunocompromised individuals booster shots of mRNA vaccines like Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. No recommendation was given for boosters of the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine because committee members said there wasn't yet enough research suggesting a need.
The committee's ruling did not specify when the immunocompromised should receive the booster, which would essentially be a third dose of the mRNA-type vaccine. It's also unknown when those immunocompromised individuals in Illinois will be eligible to begin receiving boosters.
"We are currently awaiting recommendations," IDPH officials said in an emailed statement. "IDPH will develop guidance in accordance with those recommendations."
Boosters aren't recommended for everyone just yet.
"If you're healthy with no other medical problems and are fully vaccinated, I would say right now they should not get a booster," said Dr. Temitope Oyedele, infectious disease physician for Cook County Health. "This information is currently being looked at very closely by the CDC and FDA, and when there is clear evidence that a booster is needed they will recommend that."
Currently, Illinois is reporting a stockpile of nearly 2 million vaccine doses, according to the IDPH website.
County by county
Meanwhile, DuPage County remains the leader in suburban vaccinations, according to IDPH figures. Of the county's population, 61.2% are fully vaccinated. The seven-day case positivity rate is 5.5%.
In suburban Cook County, nearly 57% of the population is fully vaccinated. The seven-day case positivity rate is at 4.1%.
Nearly 54% of Lake County residents are fully vaccinated, and the county is reporting a 4.8% seven-day case positivity rate, IDPH figures also show.
More than 52% of McHenry County residents are fully vaccinated, but the county also is reporting the highest seven-day case positivity rate in the suburbs at 6.4%.
Almost 52% of residents in Kane and Will counties are fully vaccinated. And the state is reporting Kane County's seven-day case positivity rate at 5.8%, while Will County's is at 5.9%.