News and Announcements

Public Health Officials Announce 6,222 New Confirmed Cases of Coronavirus Disease

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 6,222 new
confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 20 additional deaths.

– Champaign County: 1 male 60s
– Cook County: 1 female 50s, 1 female 60s, 1 male 60s, 2 females 70s, 2 males 70s, 2
males 80s, 1 female 0ver 100
– DuPage County: 1 male 80s
– Iroquois County: 1 male 80s
– Lake County: 1 male 80s
– Mason County: 1 male 70s, 1 male 90s
– Monroe County: 1 female 90s, 1 female over 100
– Piatt County: 1 female 60s
– Will County: 1 male 90s

Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 423,502 cases, including 9,810 deaths, in 102 counties in
Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past
24 hours, laboratories have reported 68,118 specimens for a total 7,876,421. As of last night,
3,371 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 722
patients were in the ICU and 298 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.

The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from October
26 – November 1 is 8.1%. This is the number that IDPH has been consistently reporting in its
daily releases and is calculated using total cases over total tests. Similar to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, IDPH has been using test positivity for regional mitigation
metrics on its website since mid-July. Test positivity is calculated using the number of COVID19                                                                                                            positive tests over total tests. On October 29, 2020, IDPH began reporting the statewide test
positivity in its daily releases. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from October
26, 2020 – November 1, 2020 is 9.7%.

Case positivity and test positivity rate are both relevant and offer insight into the bigger COVID19 picture.                                                                                               Case positivity helps us understand whether changes in the number of confirmed
cases is due to more testing or due to more infections. Whereas, test positivity accounts for
repeated testing and helps us understand how the virus is spreading in the population over time.