May 12 briefing: During her daily press statement Tuesday, Dr. Ngozi Ezike said that she has heard concerns about the methods the state is using to report coronavirus deaths, and assured residents that the state is working to make sure that their counts are as accurate as possible.
Illinois officials reported 4,014 new cases of coronavirus Tuesday, a single-day record for the state that lifted the total number of cases over 80,000.
As of Tuesday, the state reported 83,021 confirmed infections since the pandemic began.
Health officials also reported an additional 144 fatalities, which bring the state's death toll to 3,601.
The latest rise in cases comes as the state also reported a record number of daily tests.
According to officials, Illinois returned 29,266 test results in the last 24 hours. That brings the state's total number of tests performed to 471,691 as of Tuesday.
That drops the state's positivity rate to 17.6 percent. The positivity rate has been declining across Illinois since spiking at a high of 21.36 percent on April 22.
Of those infected with coronavirus, 4,626 remained in the hospital as of Tuesday, with 1,215 in intensive care units and 730 on ventilators.
"We have to do this together," Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said Tuesday. "Let's keep going on for every person's life matters."
Still, Pritzker revealed Monday that the state may not reach a coronavirus peak until mid-June, according to new projections.
Illinois is currently in its seventh week of a statewide stay-at-home order and in the second phase of a five-stage reopening plan. The state remains under a stay-at-home order until May 30, though some regions may begin lifting additional restrictions as early as May 29.
