Hospitalizations for COVID-19 patients in the state of Illinois have continued to rise quickly in recent weeks, jumping up by nearly 40% since the beginning of December.
According to the latest data from the Illinois Department of Public Health, there are currently 3,513 patients hospitalized due to COVID in the state of Illinois, the highest number of patients since mid-January.
Since Dec. 1, the number of patients hospitalized in Illinois for COVID-19 has grown by approximately 38.5%, challenging health systems and limiting the number of available beds for other illnesses and emergency health crises.
The number of patients requiring intensive care beds has grown even more rapidly. According to IDPH data, there are currently 748 COVID patients in ICU beds around the state, representing a 48% increase over the 505 that were in ICU’s on Dec. 1.
Statewide, there are currently 375 open ICU beds, representing just 12% of the state’s total number of ICU-staffed beds.
Several regions are seeing severe limitations on available ICU beds, including Region 5, located in southern Illinois. There, just nine out of 82 ICU beds are currently available as of Monday.
In Region 7, made up of Will and Kankakee counties, there are currently nine beds available out of 133, just 6.8% of the region’s total capacity.
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In Kane and DuPage counties, 17.8% of ICU beds are available, while in McHenry and Lake counties, 12.4% of the 161 ICU beds are available.
Ventilator usage in Illinois is also on the rise for COVID patients, with 352 ventilators currently occupied by critically ill COVID patients. That is the highest number reported in a single day since Jan. 20, according to IDPH data.
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One positive trend that may be developing is a slow flattening of new COVID cases in the state. In the last seven days, the average number of daily new COVID cases has remained essentially flat, going from 7,146 on Dec. 6 to 7,153 on Monday.
The state did record more than 9,500 new COVID cases on Saturday, with another 9,301 cases on Thursday, but those days also coincided with large numbers of new tests, as the state is averaging more than 177,000 new test results per day over the last seven days.
