Illinois surpasses 1 million coronavirus tests

There have now been more than 1 million tests for COVID-19 conducted in Illinois since the outbreak began, a milestone reached as the state on Friday announced 1,156 new known cases of coronavirus.

The statewide known case count is now 125,915.

State officials also announced 59 additional deaths Friday, raising the statewide death toll to 5,795 total deaths.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced the latest numbers

Friday afternoon in Peoria, where he was touring a testing site.

As of midnight Friday, 2,911 people in the state were hospitalized with COVID-19, 817 of them were in intensive care units, and 500 were on ventilators.

Earlier in the spring, hospitalization numbers topped 5,000.

Illinois, like many states struggled, struggled to ramp up its testing capacity as COVID-19 spread earlier this year amid a national shortage of testing kits and supplies, but the state on Thursday announced that anyone, regardless of symptoms, could seek testing at state-run sites.

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, 1,000,919 tests had been conducted as of Friday, which includes what is being reported by state, commercial and hospital labs.

Pritzker also urged anyone who has taken part in “mass gatherings,” including protest marches and other demonstrations in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police, to get tested.

“I wouldn’t say I anticipate delays or setbacks, but I’m concerned, worried, that seeing so many people packed so close together, at the marches that I’ve seen,” Pritzker said Friday. “And again, I support the expression of their First Amendment rights. But so many people were so close together — I’m glad to say so many were wearing masks, that’s half the battle, for sure. But I worry.”

The protests that Illinois has seen since last weekend in the wake of Floyd’s May 25 death come as the state has advanced to another phase of Pritzker’s reopening plan after more than two months under a statewide stay-at-home order.

Starting May 29 for much of the state, restrictions were loosened to allow for people in Illinois to get a haircut, eat outdoors at a restaurant and gather in groups of up to 10 people. Chicago followed the rest of the state in advancing to phase three of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s reopening plan earlier this week.

State officials will be closely eyeing COVID-19 data over the next few weeks, particularly hospitalization numbers, to determine whether the combination of loosening restrictions and mass gatherings led to an increase in cases across the state.

At that point, “we can either develop some confidence about the outcome of phase three, or some concern,” Pritzker said.