Illinois COVID Update: IL reports 2,471 new cases, 20 deaths

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Illinois reported 2,471 new COVID cases and 20 related deaths Tuesday.

A Florida judge voided a national COVID mask mandate for planes and transit as hospitalizations rise.

There have been at least 3,102,711 total COVID cases, including at least 33,537 related deaths in the state since the pandemic began.

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Statewide test positivity data are no longer being reported by the state.

As of Monday night, 566 patients in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 73 patients were in the ICU, and 36 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.

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A total of 21,695,861 vaccine doses have been administered in Illinois as of Monday, and 64.57% of the state's population is fully vaccinated. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 18,077.

IDPH also announced changes last week in the way it reports COVID-19 data to be in line with federal guidelines.

Illinois Dept. of Public Health announced changes Tuesday in the way it reports COVID-19 data to be in line with federal guidelines.

Some familiar metrics, including test positivity and case positivity rates, will no longer be reported. It's partly because labs no longer have to report negative antigen tests, and also because of the widespread use of home tests impacting test data.

And so in line with federal guidelines, three main metrics will be used to assess community transmission:

1) New COVID cases per 100,000 people in the past 7 days

2) New hospital admissions per 100,000 in the past 7 days

3) Percentage of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients

Based on those metrics, officials would recommend increased vaccination for a community in the low transmission category. A medium transmission category would prompt a mask recommendation for seniors and people with underlying conditions. And if a community is in high transmission, masking will be recommended for everyone in indoor public spaces.

"The CDC is actually moving away from just looking at COVID as a weather report, so to speak, and looking at it more in terms of how does it really impact our hospital systems," said IDPH's Dr. Arti Barnes.