Illinois COVID Update: IL reports 2,558 cases, 9 deaths

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Illinois Department of Public Health officials reported 2,558 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and nine related deaths Tuesday.

There have been 1,550,375 total COVID cases, including 24,133 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 31-Sept. 6 at 5.1%.

Travel from Labor Day Weekend could lead to a surge in COVID cases around the country and in Illinois, but how bad it is depends on where you live

Doctors say they're expecting to see an increase in cases in the Chicago area in the next couple weeks as a result of the holiday, but the majority of new cases right now are from unvaccinated patients.

As such, because the vaccination rates in Northern Illinois are higher than in the southern part of the state and many surrounding states, experts said they expect less impact from holiday travel.

The delta variant is dominant right now, according to the head of the Cook County Health Department. In fact, about 99% of new COVID cases in the county are delta. But Arwady said 99.9% of those cases involving vaccinated patients are not fatal, and in general the county is doing well.

"I was at Navy Pier. There were a lot of people but they were wearing masks indoors," she said.

Doctors say the incubation period for delta is shorter than traditional COVID-19 so if there is a surge in cases from the holiday weekend, we will likely know it sooner rather than later.

Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported testing 50,554 specimens for a total of 29,068,354 since the pandemic began.

Some Chicago Public Schools students face CPS remote learning after Labor Day weekend travel

As of Monday night, 2,333 patients in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 551 patients were in the ICU and 300 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.

A total of 14,086,690 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of Monday. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 23,613. On Monday, 11,849 vaccines were administered.