IL Hospitalizations Highest Since February, 81 School Outbreaks

ILLINOIS — More Illinoisans are now hospitalized with COVID-19 than at any time since February, and intensive care beds continue to fill up, state health officials said Tuesday.

Out of 3,116 ICU beds statewide, just over one-fifth are still available. The Illinois Department of Public Health reported on Tuesday that 679 ICU beds remain unfilled across Illinois — for everyone, not just COVID-19 patients.

While 551 COVID-19 patients were in ICUs across the state, another 2,437 ICU beds were occupied by others, according to state data.

The numbers are even worse in some parts of the state. Region 1, in the state's northwest corner, has only 32 ICU beds left open. Region 4, the St. Louis Metro East, has 22. And Region 5, at the state's southernmost tip, has just 8.

The spike in hospitalizations comes about a week after students returned to classrooms across Illinois. State health officials are currently tracking potential exposures at more than 1,000 Illinois schools, including 81 school outbreaks — up from 26 outbreaks last week.

Over the long weekend, the state reported 12,051 new coronavirus infections and 66 deaths from COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the virus. That's on top of the cases and deaths reported Friday for the week prior: 30,319 new cases and 178 deaths.

In all, 1.54 million Illinoisans have now caught the virus, and 24,067 have died, state health officials said.

As of Monday night, 2,333 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19, including 501 in intensive care and 300 on ventilators. Hospitalizations have risen steadily for weeks and are now at the highest level since early spring.

About 79 percent of Illinoisans over the age of 18 have now had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while about 62 percent have been fully vaccinated.

According to state health officials, about 26,431 doses of vaccines have been administered daily for the last week, while more than 14 million doses have been put in arms across Illinois since they became available early this year.

State health officials have blamed the recent spike in hospitalizations on the delta variant of the coronavirus, which is much more contagious and possibly deadlier than the original virus. According to state and federal health officials, even fully vaccinated individuals can catch and transmit the delta variant, but they are still much less likely to do so than the unvaccinated.

In addition, the vaccines remain highly effective at preventing severe illness. Nearly all recent hospitalizations and deaths across the country have been among unvaccinated people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.