Illinois COVID-19 hospitalizations at lowest level since early August

State health officials on Thursday reported 1,309 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized throughout Illinois.

That's the fewest hospitalized with the respiratory disease since early August, Illinois Department of Public Health figures show.

Of those hospitalized, 330 are in intensive care.

IDPH also reported 36 more COVID-19 deaths, while 2,146 new cases of the disease were diagnosed.

That brings the state's death toll from COVID-19 to 25,563, while 1,677,939 cases have been diagnosed in Illinois throughout the pandemic.

The state's seven-day case positivity rate is at 1.9%. Case positivity is the percentage of new cases derived from a batch of tests. A seven-day average is used to account for any anomalies in the daily reporting of those figures.

Illinois is averaging 2,082 new cases a day over the past week, the lowest level for that metric since early August, according to IDPH records. The state has been receiving results of more than 110,000 tests a day during that time.

IDPH officials also reported 34,115 more doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered statewide, bringing the total number of vaccine shots administered to Illinois residents and workers to 15,166,996.

Vaccine providers are averaging 28,913 inoculations a day over the past week, up 5% from a week ago.

To date, 56.4% of the state's 12.7 million residents have been fully vaccinated, according to IDPH records.