Illinois Covid Numbers Plummet Down; Mask Mandate Could Be Over This Week?
After a brief spike up late last week, Illinois covid numbers have plummeted down, as the state hit below the 10 percent positivity rate for the first time since Dec. 23, as officials signaled that an end to the statewide mask mandate could be coming soon.
Illinois public health officials reported 6,664 new COVID cases and 28 related deaths Monday, a stark contrast to last week, when Illinois public health officials reported 15,732 new COVID cases and 143 related deaths Wednesday, and the positivity rate went to 14.6 percent.
Numbers across the board swung mightily in a positive direction, as the seven-day statewide test positivity rate was 9.1 percent, down from 12 percent on Friday. The 9.1 percent marks the first time the statewide levels have been below 10 percent since Dec. 23, when they were at 8.6 percent, showing that the omicron variant wave seems to have passed.
Illinois covid numbers, including of the omicron variant, have been falling over the past two weeks. (Photo courtesy of the Iowa Department of Public Health)
According to the latest numbers, 3,870 patients in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with covid. Of those, 684 patients were in the ICU and 406 patients with covid were on ventilators. Laboratories have reported testing 105,727 new specimens over the past day. All numbers are on the decrease.
There have been 2,903,838 total COVID cases, including 30,716 deaths in the state since the pandemic began.
The cases are largely among the unvaccinated, as the latest numbers show 97 percent of the hospitalized being unvaccinated.
“At this point, this is largely a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” Gov. JB Pritzker said in a recent covid address to the public.
“We don’t know what is in store, but we are grateful the current vaccines have been able to do the job and keep fully vaccinated people out of the hospital,” said Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of Illinois Dept. of Public Health last week.
Illinois covid numbers have finally started to show a definitive downtrend.
The rapidly falling numbers have caused some to speculate the Illinois restrictions, including the mask mandate, could be lifted as soon as this week. Stories circulated over the weekend after comments made by Dr. Ezike to WQAD-TV8’s Jim Mertens in an interview.
Illinois covid restrictions could be reduced or dropped within the next week or two if covid numbers continue to fall, Illinois Public Health Department director Dr. Ngozi Ezike told WQAD-TV8’s Jim Mertens in an interview this weekend.
“As we pass the peak of Omicron and those numbers continue to fall,” Dr. Ngozi Ezike said, “As that number continues to go down, we will be at a level where we can think about taking off that mask because we can handle in our hospitals, the load of patients and everybody can get the care they need.”
“We know that the deaths will come down,” said Dr. Ezike. “We know that the deaths lag after the hospitalization and so since we are seeing the hospitalized patients, those numbers are coming down, the deaths associated with that will come down.”
Dr. Ngozi Ezike
Covid numbers in the state have been up and down and up again over the last week, but have declined overall compared to just two weeks ago. As reported on QuadCities.com, on Friday, after declining cases over the past week, and a day in which we were below 10,000 cases for the first time in several months, Illinois public health officials reported 15,732 new COVID cases and 143 related deaths Wednesday. However, with today’s numbers, the downtrend has returned in a big way.
“Timing is everything, you obviously can’t have the vaccine the day a variant comes out, so by the time it is available omicron might be in the rear view mirror,” said Dr. Ezike, in a previous covid address on Facebook live. “We don’t know what is in store, but we are grateful the current vaccines have been able to do the job and keep fully vaccinated people out of the hospital.”
Most of the hospitalizations for covid are unvaccinated people.
“Over the last two years, I’ve said over and over that you don’t know when a surge has reached its peak until you’re on the other side of it,” Gov. JB Pritzker said during a recent covid update.
The number of deaths is expected to fall as the omicron surge passes, but covid is expected to linger, albeit likely in a less deadly form, same as the flu has, experts agree.
“I am very, very pleased to say that we have formally passed the omicron peak here in the city of Chicago,” Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said last week in an online covid update.
All of the Illinois health regions have shown declining numbers compared to a few weeks ago.
Arwady said the city will be lifting restrictions “at some point,” but said it depended on the numbers continuing to go down.
“I have to admit that I think we are looking to a future where covid is a part of our lives,” said Dr. Ezike in her interview with Mertens. “So instead of feeling like we are constantly in crisis mode with covid, we need to get to the point where we’re just co-existing with covid.”
Illinois residents are beginning to protest to end the restrictions, particularly in schools. A group of over 700 parents has also filed a class action lawsuit to remove the mask and testing mandate from Illinois schools.
For ongoing coverage of this situation, continue to follow QuadCities.com.
