New Ill. unemployment claims rise 23%

SPRINGFIELD — New Illinois unemployment claims jumped by 23% for the week ending Oct. 3, with 36,267 filing initial claims, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security. That’s an increase of 6,887 from aweek ago.

The number of continued claims decreased by 3%, however, with 507,748 drawing unemployment benefits the week ending Oct. 3.

That’s down by more than 17,000fromthe previousweek.

Nationally, there were 840,000 claims for the week ending Oct. 3, which was a decrease of 9,000 from the week prior, according to advanced estimates by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Meanwhile, Region 4 of the state’s COVID-19 mitigation plan saw its test positivity rate dip again Thursday, putting it one day away from having mitigations lifted if the downward trend continues.

The region, which includes theMetro East area on the Missouri border near St. Louis, saw its rate dip to 6.1%, the second day below a 6.5% threshold that will allow the state to reenter phase four of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s reopening plan.

That would allow for indoor dining and drinking at restaurants and bars, activities that have not been allowed in the region since early September. Mitigations kick in when a region sees three days above 8% and can be lifted when a region is below 6.5% for three days.

The same mitigations are now in place in Region 1 of the plan, which includes the northwest part of the state from Winnebago County to the western border. That region had an 8.8% positivity rate as ofMonday, according to the most recent data available.

Other regions range from 4.3% to 6.9%.

Statewide, the positivity rate rose to 3.7% as the Illinois Department of Public Health reported 3,059newconfirmed cases among 72,491 test results reported over the previous 24 hours.

That made for a oneday positivity rate of 4.2% as 32 more virus-related deathswere reported.

The new deaths came in a person in their 30s, four in their 50s, three in their 60s, seven in their 70s and the rest 80 or older.

Hospitalizations for the virus rose once again at the end of Wednesday. While those numbers fluctuate considerably daily, the 1,755 COVID-19 hospitalizations were the most since June 18.

The 392 intensive care unit beds in use by COVID-19 patients were also above recent averages, although that number reached as high as 400 two weeks ago and was above 1,200 at the height of the pandemic.

There were 163 ventilators in use by the end of Wednesday.

In terms of statewide capacity, 34 percent of hospital beds, 37% of ICU beds and 78% of ventilatorswere available.