CHICAGO — Illinois set another daily record for newly confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday as the total number of cases since the pandemic began soared past a half million.
In addition to 12,623 newly confirmed and probable cases, state public health officials also reported an additional 79 deaths Tuesday, raising the statewide death toll to 10,289. The state has now logged 511,183 known coronavirus cases since the beginning of the pandemic.
As of Tuesday, the seven-day average number of deaths of people with COVID-19 was 59, up from 41 on Nov. 1 and 29 on Oct. 10.
Hospitalizations continue to climb, and state officials have warned there could be impending bed shortages in some regions of the state. As of Monday night, 4,742 people in the state were hospitalized with COVID-19. Of those patients, 911 were in intensive care units and 399 were on ventilators.
The state Department of Public Health also reported that three residents of the Illinois Veterans' Home in LaSalle had died over the previous 24 hours. The facility, which has reported that 68 residents and 70 staff members have contracted COVID-19, and six have died, since the beginning of the pandemic, has put in place testing, isolation and sterilization efforts and "is following all public health guidance in its continued response," the health department said in a news release.
The seven-day statewide rolling positivity rate for cases as a share of total tests was 12% for the period ending Monday, up from 8% on Nov. 1.
