CHICAGO — Another 883 people tested positive for coronavirus in Illinois during the last day.
That means 154,799 people have now had confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Illinois. Illinois has seen a slight rise in the number of people testing positive in recent weeks; last week, there were three days in a row when more than 1,000 people tested positive.
But officials have said the number of new cases does not give a good picture of how the state is progressing in its fight against coronavirus. Instead, they’ve said people should look to other statistics, like how many people died.
That number has fallen: Just six people were reported to have died in the last 24 hours from coronavirus. The state’s death toll now sits at 7,193.
But the state’s seven-day positivity rate did rise to 3 percent after hitting 2.9 percent Friday. That measures the percent of people who tested positive for coronavirus.
Another 30,012 tests were reported over the last day, meaning Illinois has now conducted more than 2 million coronavirus tests.
Chicago also reported an increase in confirmed cases Sunday, the most recent day for which data was available. It had 182 new cases of coronavirus and five deaths, and the city’s positivity rate has risen to 5 percent.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Chicago is seeing an uptick in cases among people ages 19-39. She warned restaurants, bars, gyms and other places where young people congregate that they should enforce social distancing and other rules to protect patrons — or risk punishments from the city.
“That’s why we’re having a lot of conversations with bars, restaurants, other places of entertainment,” Lightfoot said at a Monday press conference. “And if we don’t see progress, we’re gonna take some specific steps.
“But my hope, always, is to educate people into compliance. … We need to make sure that we are continuing to be diligent.”
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