Illinois reports another 118,544 doses administered
Another 118,544 coronavirus vaccine doses were administered in Illinois Wednesday, bringing the statewide total to 5,154,908, public health officials reported.
The number of residents who have been fully vaccinated — receiving both of the required two shots, or Johnson & Johnson’s single shot — reached 1,921,995, or 15.09% of the total population. The state averaged 101,175 vaccines administered daily over the last seven days.
The state also reported 27 cases of a COVID-19 variant first detected in Los Angeles County in July. The variant had not previously been reported in Illinois.
The Illinois Department of Public Health website states that “more study is needed about the infectiousness and severity of this variant.”
In addition, there were 21 additional cases of the coronavirus variant that originated from the United Kingdom for a total of 167, and three additional cases of the Brazilian variants for a total of nine. Officials previously identified three cases of the variant that originated in South Africa.
Officials reported 2,190 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 35 additional fatalities Wednesday. The total number of known infections in Illinois since the start of the pandemic is 1,229,898, and the statewide death toll is 21,171.
The seven-day statewide positivity rate for cases as a share of total tests is 2.7% as of Wednesday. Thursday’s new cases resulted from a batch of 90,101 tests.
As of Wednesday night, 1,251 people in Illinois were hospitalized with COVID19, with 267 patients in intensive care units and 119 patients on ventilators.