Evanston health officials reported 37 new COVID-19 cases in the city today, up from 18 yesterday. The city’s coronavirus death toll has remained unchanged for four weeks at 114.
Update 5:45 p.m.: A city spokesman says the new cases include some “in congregate settings, as well as some community spread.”
In contrast to when the city reported 40 cases in one day on Feb. 25, this time no delay in case reports was involved, the spokesman said.
Update 6:45 p.m.: In a statement this evening, Mayor Steve Hagerty said that while case numbers and other metrics are still below their peaks, they are rising and, “We’re still moving in the wrong direction.”
“As the weather warms,” the mayor added, “there’s more temptation to let down our guard. Right now, we need to do the opposite.”
Statewide there were 2,592 new cases, compared to 2,404 yesterday.
State Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike today said the state is in an intense race to vaccinate as many residents as possible as cases surge.
The Illinois Department of Public Health today reported that 137,445 people were vaccinated yesterday. That’s the second-highest one-day vaccination number for the state so far. The seven day average is up from a week ago.
A total of 5.80 million vaccine doses had been administered as of yesterday, about 78% of the total 7.3 million doses distributed to the state by the federal government. The IDPH says 16.96% of the state’s population is now fully vaccinated.
Cook County, including Chicago, is only in the middle of the pack in the state in the percentage of residents vaccinated so far.
Reported COVID-19 deaths in Illinois rose sharply again yesterday. The seven day average is up from a week ago.
The number of COVID-19 tests reported increased today, and the seven-day test average is about the same as a week ago.
The IDPH reported tests of 889 Evanston residents today, compared to 222 yesterday. The IDPH found seven positive cases here for a daily positive rate of 0.8%. The seven-day positive rate here is up from a week ago.
The state now says Evanston has had a total of 4,367 cases. The city’s tally is 4,189.
COVID-19 deaths reported in Cook County since yesterday include two women and one man in their 40s, a woman and three men in their 50s, a woman and two men in their 60s, a woman an two men in their 70s, three women and two men in their 80s, a woman in her 90s and a woman over 100 years old.
As of last night, 1,413 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 294 patients were in the ICU and 123 of those were on ventilators.