Illinois COVID Update: IL reports 1,327 cases, 8 deaths

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Illinois Department of Public Health officials reported 1,327 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 Monday and eight related deaths.

Monday's new case numbers are the smallest one-day increase since July 26, however, Monday numbers tend to have smaller increases and are reflected in a lower number of tests being reported.

There have been 1,671,275 total COVID cases, including 25,470 deaths in the state since the pandemic began.

The seven-day statewide test positivity rate from Oct. 11-17 is at 2.4 percent.

Please note: The video in the player above is from a previous report

In the past seven days, Illinois' COVID metrics have trended downward across the board, with new COVID cases down 19% compared to the week before. Coronavirus deaths are also trending down in the last week, though at a slower pace than new cases.

Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported testing 63,633 specimens for a total of 34,016,737 since the pandemic began.

As of Sunday night, 1,417 patients in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 338 patients were in the ICU and 168 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.

A total of 15,075,110 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of Monday. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 28,875. State data shows 63% of the population in Illinois has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

According to the CDC, Illinois the majority of Illinois counties are in the "high transmission" level, even though total case numbers have been trending down.

The CDC director has added frontline workers to the list of those eligible for booster shots, which also includes people 65 and older, nursing home residents and those 50 and above with chronic health care problems should get boosters 6 months after their second dose. The CDC said younger people with underlying health issues can decide for themselves.

With the CDC's recommendation, millions of Americans will now eligible for the booster shot, but the head of Pfizer said he believes there is enough supply to handle those people and those still awaiting their initial vaccination.