CHICAGO — Coronavirus has killed 155 more Illinoisans, the state reported Wednesday.
Among the most recent victims were 25 people in Cook County. At least 11,832 people have died from COVID-19 in Illinois, and another 608 deaths are considered to be probably related to coronavirus.
The state also reported 11,378 confirmed cases in the past day. That brings the total number of confirmed cases in Illinois up to 685,467.
With Chicago and the rest of Illinois firmly in the midst of a second wave of COVID-19, officials are urging everyone to cancel their Thanksgiving plans and stay home. It’s not too late to change how you’re celebrating so you can save lives, officials have said this week.
“It’s better to have a Zoom Thanksgiving than an ICU Christmas,” Dr. Allison Arwady, head of the Chicago Department of Public Health, said at a Wednesday news conference. “It’s true. And I want you to think about that as you’re making your decisions not just for Thanksgiving, but for Black Friday” and afterward.
The state’s top doctor said getting a negative test does not mean you can safely gather for Thanksgiving since you can have and spread coronavirus but still get a negative test.
To prevent more deaths — and to slow down the virus and hopefully avert a full stay at home order — the entire state is under Tier 3 restrictions. The rules close museums, casinos and theaters; cut capacity at stores; stop indoor sports and put stricter rules in place at gyms and salons, among other things.
Chicago is under a stay at home advisory. People are being asked to stay home as much as possible, leaving only for essential things like grocery shopping; to work from home if possible; to stop gathering with anyone outside their household; and to stop traveling.
People should also wear masks and wash their hands regularly, officials have said.
The surge in new cases in Chicago — and across Illinois — can only partially be explained by increased testing; in reality, there are more cases because coronavirus is spreading so much, officials have said. There’s evidence of that in the way positivity rates and COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations have rapidly risen in recent weeks.
Illinois’ seven-day positivity rate was at 10.6 percent with 114,233 tests reported. It was at 10.4 percent Tuesday. The figure represents total confirmed cases divided by total tests.
Illinois’ seven-day test positivity, which measures how many tests were positive out of total tests, fell to 12.2 percent. It was at 12.4 percent Tuesday.
As of Tuesday night, 6,133 people were hospitalized with coronavirus in Illinois, including 1,208 people in the ICU and 679 people using ventilators.
In Chicago, 40 deaths and 3,542 confirmed cases were reported since Tuesday. There have been at least 3,394 deaths from COVID-19 in Chicago and 154,315 confirmed cases, according to state data.
An average of 1,933 confirmed cases are being reported per day, a 20 percent decrease from the prior week. The city’s seven-day positivity rate is at 12.9 percent, down from 15.9 percent the week before.
The city is also seeing an average of 13 deaths per day, up from 11 deaths per day the week prior.
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