CHICAGO _ The number of deaths attributed to the coronavirus in Illinois surpassed 9,000 on Tuesday.
State public health officials on Tuesday reported 2,851 newly diagnosed cases and 29 additional deaths of people with COVID-19, raising the death toll to 9,026 throughout the course of the pandemic.
There have been 324,743 known cases of coronavirus in Illinois, and the state has recently seen an uptick in the number of new cases public health officials report daily.
The state on Tuesday reported a seven-day rolling test positivity rate was 4.5% for the period ending Monday, up from 3.4% a week earlier.
"More than 9,000 Illinoisans _ our mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, family, friends, and neighbors _ have had their lives cut short by COVID-19, leaving tens of thousands more to grieve loved ones lost too soon," Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a statement issued Tuesday.
Pritzker and Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike both urged Illinois residents on Tuesday to wear masks and keep a physical distance from others in an effort to curb the spread of coronavirus.
"After 9 months of battling this virus and hearing the updates each day, many of us forget that the hospitalizations and deaths are more than just numbers," Ezike said in a statement Tuesday.
