Illinois COVID 19 Today: IL reports 1,337 new coronavirus cases, 30 deaths as positivity rate dips below 4 percent

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Illinois public health officials announced 1,337 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday along with thirty additional deaths.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in Illinois now stands at 253,690 with 8,214 deaths, the IDPH reported.

The preliminary seven-day positivity rate from September 2-8 is 3.7%. The rate is the lowest since July 26 and the first time it has gone below 4% since August 5.

Within the past 24 hours, the state has processed 48,029 specimens for a total of 4,526,739

As of Sunday night, 1,580 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, with 357 patients in the ICU and 133 patients on ventilators.

The 30 additional COVID-19 deaths include:

-Adams County: 1 male 90s

-Christian County: 1 female 90s

-Coles County: 1 female 80s

-Cook County: 1 female 50s, 1 male 70s, 1 male 80s, 1 male 90s

-Jackson County: 1 female 90s

-Jersey County: 1 female 100+

-Kane County: 1 male 80s

-Lake County: 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s

-LaSalle County: 1 male 70s

-Macon County: 1 male 70s

-Madison County: 1 female 60s, 1 female 70s, 2 males 80s, 1 female 90s

-Peoria County: 1 male 90s

-Rock Island County: 1 male 60s, 1 male 70s

-Sangamon County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 90s

-St. Clair County: 1 male 80s

-Will County: 1 male 70s

-Williamson County: 1 female 80s, 3 females 90s

On Tuesday, the state also announced a coronavirus relief fund will give out its last round of grants.

Since the start of the pandemic, a COVID-19 response fund set up by the state distributed more than $30 million dollars in assistance in the way of meals, health care services and direct cash payments.

"The Illinois COVID-19 Response Fund was born and it answered the call when our state needed it most and before the federal government had begun to help," Gov. JB Pritzker said.

Gov. Pritzker announced Tuesday that the COVID-19 response fund is winding down and giving its last round of grants. This time it is funding organizations that are either led by or serve the Black and Latinx communities.

"We really honed in on the underlying systemic inequities that COVID laid bare and racial inequity emerged as a further focus of our grant making," said Penny Pritzker, chair of the Illinois COVID-19 Response Fund.

That means Tracy Dace, the founder of Driven to Reach Excellence and Academic Achievement for Males, can re-engage with families during his outreach work in Champaign County.

"It's about people," Dace said. "It's about humans and lives and children and families so when COVID hit us, we had to recalibrate and we have lost so many families."

Grants were provided to a total of more than 1,600 organizations. The governor said there is still a need for help. He encourages people to look at all the organizations that were vetted by the fund and continue to make donations.

"Illinoisans demonstrated unsurpassed spirit of generous and compassion for friends, neighbors and communities," Pritzker said.