State sees biggest daily spike in COVID-19 cases in a month as Pritzker beefs up mobile testing sites

Another 980 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in Illinois, health officials said Wednesday, marking the largest number of new cases reported during a 24-hour period in over a month.

The Illinois Department of Public Health also reported another 36 deaths attributed to COVID-19, raising the state’s pandemic death toll to 7,099.

The 980 new cases is the most in a single day since June 5, the last time the state’s daily caseload hit four digits: 1,156.

During Illinois’ peak month of May, an average of about 2,172 people were testing positive for COVID-19 each day. That rate fell to about 764 new cases per day in June, and, a week into July, so far has risen slightly to about 781 cases per day.

Coronavirus test results have also been reported at a greater clip so far this month, though. The latest batch of cases were detected among 32,742 tests, the fourth highest total ever received by the state. The state has topped 30,000 daily tests nine times; it’s happened five of the first eight days in July.

Graph not displaying properly? Click here.

A total of 149,432 people have tested positive for the virus over the last four months, with cases confirmed in every Illinois county and more than 1.8 million tests administered overall. The state’s testing positivity rate over the last week is 2.6%.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker is hoping to bolster those testing numbers with an expansion of mobile sites to 12 throughout the state.

Standing outside Coles Elementary School on the South Side, Pritzker announced the sites will offer free drive-thru and walk-up testing to residents in communities that have been ravaged by the virus. The mobile teams will also visit homeless shelters and nursing homes.

In addition to the South Side site, the mobile sites are in Brighton Park on the Southwest Side, west suburban Cicero and Springfield, Rock Island and East St. Louis downstate.

“We now have 12 mobile teams that can be moved anywhere in any given day to mitigate and suppress emerging outbreaks, including places like meatpacking plants and nursing homes, migrant worker housing and other communities less able to access traditional testing clinics,” Pritzker said.

| Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

The mobile sites are in addition to 11 free state-run drive-thru and walk-up sites in the state.

Pritzker said more than 500 Illinois National Guard members will end their missions at the state testing sites, with contract staffers supporting those sites going forward. The Illinois National Guard has administered over 200,000 tests since March 23 at those sites.

About 100 Guard members will remain on duty through the end of July to help with the transition, he said. Those service members will be quarantined for two weeks after ending their service.

“These citizen soldiers spent months away from their families and their regular civilian jobs to see our state through the worst of this pandemic, what I hope is the worst of this pandemic,” Pritzker said. “On behalf of the people of Illinois, I want to express my deep gratitude for their service.”