State health officials on Sunday announced 3,767 new and probable coronavirus cases and an additional 104 virus-related deaths, making Illinois’ second smallest caseload reported in a day in nearly two months.
Sunday’s caseload comes one day after the state announced a daily case count of 3,293, the fewest new cases reported in a day since Oct. 19.
Entering this weekend, Illinois was averaging about 8,180 new cases each day in December.
The lesser caseloads reported over the last two days are a result of a drop of testing in part due to the holiday weekend. Laboratories processed a combined 100,688 COVID-19 tests Friday and Saturday. In comparison, Illinois was averaging more than 91,000 tests per day over the last month.
Despite the decrease in testing, which will pick up again after the holidays, Illinois continues to make progress in rebounding from a record-setting late fall resurgence.
Most of the state’s metrics have gradually declined since the state peaked in late November. Illinois hasn’t reported a daily caseload over 10,000 since Dec. 10, and the state’s seven-day positivity rate remains at 6.8%, the lowest it’s been since Oct. 29.
Statewide hospitalizations have also been on a gradual decline over the last month after peaking with 6,175 occupied beds Nov. 20. As of Saturday night, 4,083 people were hospitalized in Illinois with COVID-19, with 905 of those patients in intensive-care units and 497 on ventilators, officials said.
Coronavirus-related fatalities have also been on a slow decline after the state experienced its deadliest stretch of the pandemic in early December. About 151 Illinoisans were succumbing to the virus every day over the first two weeks of this month, compared to 121 over the last two weeks.
Of Sunday’s 104 fatalities, 49 were reported in the Chicago area and only five were among people under the age of 60.
In total, 937,909 people in Illinois have been confirmed to have the virus among the nearly 13 million tests processed over the last 10 months. That’s about 7.4% of the state’s population. The statewide recovery rate is 98%.