For the third day in a row, health officials in Illinois have reported more than 60,000 new coronavirus tests in a 24-hour period, with 2,441 new cases and 25 additional deaths reported in the last day.
Testing Saturday was down slightly from the nearly 70,000 tests performed on Friday, with 65,217 specimens tested by labs throughout the state. In all, 5,428,688 tests have been performed in the state since the pandemic began.
Saturday’s new cases bring the state’s total number of coronavirus cases to 286,326, with a positivity rate of just under 5.3% during the pandemic.
The additional deaths Saturday bring the total number of COVID-19 related fatalities in Illinois to 8,588.
Since declining below 3.5% earlier this week, the state’s 7-day positivity rate has very slowly been trending upward, rising very slightly again on Saturday to 3.63%. That is still significantly lower than the 7-day rate had been during an upward swing in that metric in August, but is a number worth keeping an eye on as fall continues.
The recent surge in testing in the state has meant a record number of tests performed over a 14-day period, with 739,712 tests reported in the last 14 days alone.
As of midnight, 1,597 individuals are currently hospitalized due to COVID-19 in Illinois, with 355 patients currently in intensive care unit beds. A total of 141 patients are currently on ventilators in the state.
