New daily COVID cases near 2,000
Eleven counties issued warnings as state death toll approaches 7,500
Downtown Galena in Jo Daviess County, one of 11 across Illinois to receive warnings Friday on rising cases of COVID-19. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)
By Ted Cox
Newly confirmed daily cases of COVID-19 continued to rise across Illinois Friday, approaching 2,000 for the first time since late May.
The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 1,941 new cases Friday, bringing the state total to 178,837 in the pandemic, while 21 new deaths took the statewide toll to 7,495. The state also set a record with 49,782 tests conducted in a day, so the seven-day positivity rate remained relatively low at 3.9 percent.
Even so, the state reported more than 10,000 new cases for the week since last Friday, more than 100 deaths attributed to the coronavirus, and the seven-day positivity rate rose from 3.4 percent.
IDPH issued formal warnings to 11 counties for rising coronavirus cases, up from four last week. But there was only one repeating at the warning level: Randolph County south of St. Louis. Ten new counties were added to the warning list: Cass, Gallatin, Jackson, Jo Daviess, Johnson, Perry, Saline, Sangamon, St. Clair, and White. Three counties were removed from the warning list from a week ago: Adams, LaSalle, and Peoria.
According to IDPH, new outbreaks were “associated with business operations and activities posing higher risk for disease spread, including school graduation ceremonies, a rise in cases among late teens and 20s, parties and social gatherings, people going to bars, long-term-care outbreaks, clusters of cases associated with restaurants and churches, and big sports events including soccer, golf, and softball tournaments. Residents of many communities are not wearing face coverings that have been proven to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Public health officials are finding that most contacts to cases are testing positive as well.”
The department praised local mitigation efforts, including “the mayor of Springfield requiring bar employees to wear masks or be subject to fines, Perry County hospitals and nursing homes temporarily suspending visitors, and the state's attorney in Jackson County allowing the local food ordinance to be used to enforce COVID-19 guidance at restaurants and bars.”
Nationally, The New York Times reported Friday that total U.S. cases topped 4.5 million, after total deaths topped 150,000 earlier in the week.