State sees 10,012 new and confirmed coronavirus cases, 76 more deaths

State health officials Sunday reported 10,012 new and probable coronavirus cases and 76 additional deaths.

Half of Sunday’s fatalities were reported in Cook County; four were among people under 60 years old.

The new cases were found among the latest batch of 92,437 tests processed by the Illinois Department of Public Health in the last 24 hours. That lowers the seven-day statewide positivity rate to 11.3%, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported.

Illinois has seen a decrease in its daily caseloads in each of the last three days since Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Thursday he saw a possible “pause in our upward movement.”

Still, the pandemic is far from over as one in 15 Chicagoans are estimated to have active coronavirus infections, according to Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who again reminded people they have a social responsibility to help curb the spread of the virus.

“This is a public health emergency and we must continue doing our parts to #ProtectChicago,” Lightfoot tweeted Saturday night. “1 in 15 Chicagoans are estimated to have COVID-19.”

Lightfoot’s warning comes about one week into the city’s stay-at-home advisory. Several other suburban officials followed in the mayor’s footsteps, issuing their own stay-at-at-home advisories.

Pritzker also slapped the state with more restrictions, putting a 25% capacity limit on stores and shutting down museums, theaters and casinos as Illinois entered Tier 3 of the Democratic governor’s mitigation plan.

The state saw its hospitalizations dip slightly from over the last day. As of Saturday night, 6,072 people were hospitalized in Illinois with COVID-19, with 1,179 of those patients in intensive-care units and 589 on ventilators, officials said.

More than 2 million of the roughly 9.8 million coronavirus tests the state has administered throughout the pandemic have been processed in November. That includes a record-setting batch of 120,284 reported tests Saturday.

In total, 656,298 people have been confirmed to have the respiratory virus — about 5.2% of the state’s population. However, most people who contract the virus show mild to no symptoms, and the state boasts a recovery rate of 97%.