Illinois records highest single-day COVID-19 case total since January

The number of new COVID-19 cases reported in a single day in Illinois reached 4,904 Friday, the highest since late January.

COVID-19 hospitalizations also cleared a somber milestone Friday, hitting 2,000 patients for the first time since mid-May, state health figures show. Of those hospitalized, 468 are in intensive care.

With the new cases, 1,482,369 Illinois residents have been infected with the virus, state health officials said.

While cases spiked, so did the number of daily test results. Illinois Department of Public Health officials reported the new cases were diagnosed from a batch of 90,749 tests. That's a single-day case positivity rate of 5.4%. The state average for the week is 5.3% after weeks of a steady rise in that metric, which was as low as 0.6% two months ago, according to IDPH records.

IDPH officials also noted more than 66,000 COVID-19 test results are being processed daily over the past week, the highest level since mid-May.

In suburban Cook County, just 19% of all the ICU beds are available. Hospitals in Lake and McHenry counties also have a combined 19% availability of ICU beds. Chicago is reporting fewer than 20% of ICU beds available as well.

Hospitals in suburban Cook have seen the daily average number of COVID-19 patients being treated increase by 55% over the past 10 days, records show.

In the IDPH's Region 8, which contains DuPage and Kane counties, hospitalizations have increased nearly 62% over the past 10 days, but 22% of the region's ICU beds remain available.

Hospitalizations from COVID-19 have increased 31% in Lake and McHenry counties' Region 9 over the past 10 days, and almost 24% in Region 7's Will and Kankakee counties during that time.

Meanwhile, 18 more COVID-19 deaths were reported Friday, bringing the state's death toll from the virus to 23,717.

IDPH also reported 27,108 more COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered throughout Illinois over the previous 24 hours.

That brings the total number of vaccine doses administered statewide to 13,745,822, state officials said.

Vaccine providers around Illinois are now averaging 33,564 doses administered each day over the past week.

DuPage County leads the state with 62.3% of residents fully vaccinated, according to IDPH figures.

Suburban Cook County reports 57.9% of residents are fully vaccinated. Lake County's fully vaccinated rate is more than 55%.

Records show 53.1% of McHenry County's residents are fully vaccinated, as are 52.7% of Will County residents and 52.6% of Kane County's population.

Currently, only Illinois residents 12 and older can receive vaccinations.