Illinois COVID Update: IL reports 4,660 cases, 40 deaths; Region 5 out of ICU beds

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Illinois Department of Public Health officials reported 4,660 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 40 related deaths Tuesday.

There have been 1,578,198 total COVID cases, including 24,407 deaths in the state since the pandemic began.

The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from Sept. 7-13 is at 4.9%.

In Region 5, in southern Illinois, they had no available ICU beds at any hospital in a 20 county area with more than 400,000 residents when Tuesday began. That means both COVID patients and other ICU patients - people who come in for heart attacks, traumatic injury, or other situations needing intensive care - have nowhere in any of those counties to go.

Some patients have been told the closest available ICU bed is hours away in another state, including in St. Louis and Nashville.

IDPH is deploying more than 100 healthcare workers to Region 5 hospitals, and has received federal approval to use three VA hospitals in Danville, Marion and St. Louis for the next month to accommodate patients.

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In the Chicago area, however hospitalizations have begun to flatten. At Edward and Elmhurst hospitals, they're doing about 2/3 from a mid-August peak.

In DuPage County, 64% of residents are vaccinated, compared to only 17% in Region 5's Alexander County. Doctors emphasize it is important both for you to be vaccinated, as well as the people around you to be vaccinated, to slow COVID surges.

Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported testing 87,750 specimens for a total of 30,099,346 since the pandemic began.

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As of Monday night, 2,263 patients in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 547 patients were in the ICU and 314 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.

A total of 14,218,536 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of Monday. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 19,802. On Monday, 17,207 vaccines were administered.