Illinois recorded another 1,298 coronavirus cases Monday, pushing the state’s positivity rate just past 4%, state figures show.
The state also logged another nine deaths, bringing the total number of those killed by the virus to 7,526. There have been 183,241 cases of COVID-19 recorded in Illinois since the pandemic gripped the state.
The state has seen a steady uptick in new cases, pushing new case totals back to numbers not seen since May or June.
Monday’s latest tally means the state has logged at least 1,000 new cases for 13 days in a row. On Sunday, the state’s health officials announced 1,467 new COVID-19 cases, with the positivity rate hovering just below 4% at 3.9%.
But Monday’s numbers pushed the seven-day average positivity rate to 4.01% — the first time since early June that the rate was over 4%. Monday’s single-day statewide positivity rate of 4.56% was the highest since June 6.
Illinois has averaged 1,503 new cases a day over the last week. The last time the state averaged that many cases over a seven-day span was the last week in the peak month of May. Monday’s numbers continue that upward rise, pushing the Illinois average to 1,512 new cases per day, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis of the numbers shows.
The latest numbers were released about an hour after Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced a new campaign Monday urging people to wear masks. The slogan of the series of ads that will air on television, Hulu and YouTube, is “It only works if you wear it.”
The ad campaign comes as the state is seeing “some very concerning trends” in new coronavirus cases. There have been clusters of cases from overcrowded restaurants and an overall rise in cases among those in their late teens and early 20s.
“Based on the trends of cases on the county level,” media spending will focus “on the cities and counties that have the most work to do,” Pritzker said in Springfield at the unveiling of the new ad campaign.
“Folks, no one is asking you to wear a mask forever, but for the time being, until we see a very effective treatment or a vaccine, the best way to safely get to the other side of this emergency is for all of us to follow the mitigations recommended by doctors — wash your hands, watch your distance, wear a mask whenever you’re out and about.”
Contributing: Caroline Hurley
