37 deaths are state’s highest daily COVID toll in 7 weeks

COVID-19 has killed 37 more Illinoisans, public health officials announced Wednesday, marking the state’s highest number of deaths attributed to the virus in a single day in seven weeks.

The Illinois Department of Public Health also said 2,157 more coronavirus cases have been confirmed, the seventh time the state has crossed the 2,000-case threshold so far this month.

Cases have trended upward in Illinois since early July, and experts have warned that a spike in deaths would follow.

Wednesday’s toll marked only the fifth time the state has tallied 30 or more deaths since July 7, when 37 lives were also lost.

The latest victims included a Cook County youth in her teens, officials said.

Illinois is now averaging about 20 deaths per day over the last two weeks, compared with about 16 per day over the previous two weeks.

The virus has more typically preyed on the elderly. Most of those infected show mild or no symptoms. The statewide recovery rate is 95%.

The new cases were diagnosed among the latest batch of 50,362 tests submitted, lowering the statewide testing positivity rate over the last week to 4%.

New state-imposed restrictions including a ban on indoor dining went into effect Wednesday in Will and Kankakee counties, where the average regional positivity rate is at 8.3%.