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Sunday marks 1st anniversary of 1st case of COVID-19 in Illinois; deaths reported in Clinton and Jefferson Counties

By News Jan 24, 2021 | 2:20 PM

Sunday marks the first anniversary of the first case of COVID-19 confirmed in Illinois.   The Chicago case was the second confirmed case in the country.

During a Sunday Facebook message, State Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike called it an unprecedented and awful year.   She noted in the past year the number of cases has grown to over 1.1-million cases with 19,000 deaths.

“We are still reporting over 500 deaths every week just here in Illinois and thousands of cases every single day.   Yes, there is hope.  The vaccine is here but we also know about these new varients that are circulating that have the power to cause more infections and potentially even more deaths.”

Ezike reiterated the need to wear masks and social distance to minimize the loss of life until more vaccines are available.

The health department reported 3,292 new cases and 40 additional deaths on Sunday.  The deaths include a male in his 70s in Clinton County, a female in her 70s in Jefferson County, and a male in his 70s in Effingham County.

On the positive side, the seven-day positivity rate has fallen to 4.8-percent for the past seven days.  The number hospitalized has fallen below 3,000 and as of Saturday night totaled 2,994.   Of those, 617 patients were in the ICU and 321 were on ventilators.  The state is averaging 27,776 doses of the vaccine a day.

The Southern Illinois Region positivity rate for the past seven days is 5.1-percent.  The Marion County positivity rate is at 4-percent.  The Metro-East Region has dropped to eight-percent.   If it stays at or below that level for another two days, the Metro-East has the rest of the metrics to move to Phase 4.   The East Central Illinois Region has a seven-day rolling positivity rate of 5.1-percent.