Illinois COVID-19 death toll hits 16,000

[December 29, 2020]  By RAYMON TRONCOSO
Capitol News Illinois
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SPRINGFIELD – While the number of new COVID-19 cases and people hospitalized in Illinois continue to decline, the state’s coronavirus death toll has surpassed 16,000.

An additional 105 deaths were reported Monday by the Illinois Department of Public Health. That brings the total COVID-19 deaths in Illinois to 16,074 among 942,362 cases and more than 13 million test results reported.

The IDPH on Monday reported 4,453 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in Illinois.

Statewide, the rolling seven-day average case positivity rate from Dec. 21 to Dec. 27 was 7.2 percent. That is three-tenths of a percentage point lower than the seven-day average case positivity rate reported on Dec. 23, the last day IDPH released COVID data before the holiday weekend. That makes one week of rates below 8 percent.

At the end of Sunday, there were 4,243 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Illinois, a decrease of 350 from Dec. 23.

There were 884 intensive care beds in use by COVID-19 patients as of Sunday night, a decrease of 69 from Dec. 23. That left 840, or just over 25 percent, of ICU beds available statewide.

COVID-19 patients occupied 515 ventilators, a decrease of 21 from the Wednesday prior to the holiday weekend. That left 4,205 ventilators, or 73.7 percent of all ventilators, available for use across the state.

More than 112,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Illinois since the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were approved for emergency use earlier this month.

On Sunday, President Trump signed a bill granting $900 billion in COVID-19 aid, which includes a direct payment up to $600 dollars to some Americans. The bill also includes funds for vaccine distribution and boosts in weekly unemployment benefits.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government and distributed to more than 400 newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.