In the past day, the state has conducted 16,617 virus tests, for a positivity rate of 13.99%, about the same as Friday’s rate of 13.97%.
Illinois public health officials have confirmed 2,325 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, including 111 additional deaths, the fifth day in a row the state has had more than 100 fatalities from the novel coronavirus.
It’s the first time the state has had such a long streak of virus-related deaths during the pandemic, but state officials have repeatedly said in recent days that Illinois appears to have hit a plateau in the COVID outbreak, and that the rise in deaths tends to lag behind the rise in confirmed cases.
According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, Illinois has now had 76,085 confirmed COVID-19 cases in 98 counties since the start of the pandemic, including 3,349 deaths.
