Illinois COVID Update: IL reports 3,003 cases, 8 deaths

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Illinois Department of Public Health officials reported 3,003 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and eight related deaths Monday.

There have been 1,491,582 total COVID cases, including 23,761 deaths in the state since the pandemic began.

Illinois COVID vaccine map shows how many residents vaccinated by county

The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from Aug. 15-22 is at 5.9%.

Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported testing 50,582 specimens for a total of 28,267,390 since the pandemic began.

FDA gives full approval to Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine

Infectious disease doctors hope the FDA's full approval for the Pfizer COVID vaccine will mean more people 16 and over will get vaccinated.

"I hope employers and businesses feel more comfortable mandating for their patrons and employees," said Dr. Sajal Tanna, Northwestern Medicine. "I have patients that say it's not FDA approved and they were just waiting for the seal of approval from the federal government to use it."

The approval process was rigorous and time consuming. The FDA reviewed hundreds of thousands of pages of data.

"What took time is that we actually go and monitor where the clinical trials were conducted in order to make sure the data was collected with accuracy," said Dr. Peter Marks, FDA.

The FDA said the vaccine proved to be 91% against hospitalizations and deaths, but does not always prevent infection or transmission....full approval also gives doctors some flexibility, but the federal agency warned physicians to use as prescribed. They also emphasized today the vaccine should not be used as "off label" for kids 12 and under

"Kids are not just little adults, those studies need to be completed and pediatricians should be on board and feel comfortable before giving it to kids 12 and under," said Dr. Tanna.

While the vaccine for 12-15-year-olds continue to fall under emergency use, Pfizer says it hopes to complete studies and submit the data to the FDA for kids under 12 by the end of September.

As of Sunday night, 2,064 patients in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 487 patients were in the ICU and 239 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.

A total of 13,813,317 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of Sunday. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 23,635. On Sunday, 16,279 vaccines were administered.