The state’s top public health doctor says they are keeping a watchful eye on the COVID variants circulating in Illinois and across the country.
State Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike says it’s not unusual for viruses to mutate several times.
What we don’t know about all these variants, and that is what we are going to be continually studying throughout this process, what are the properties of this variant. Is it more transmissible, will it evade vaccine protection, will it evade natural protections?” said Ezike.
704 cases of COVID variants have been confirmed in Illinois so far. 552 of those are the B17 strain which was first discovered n the UK.
Statewide, 3,739 more cases of COVID-19 were reported on Thursday along with 34 additional deaths. Two of the deaths were in Randolph County in southwestern Illinois.
The Marion County Health Department is reporting five new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday. None are long-term care residents or students. Three of the cases are considered community spread and two are household or close contacts. There are currently 29 active cases. Three are in the hospital and one of those is on a ventilator.
Clinton County is reporting two new cases on Thursday. There are 13 on home isolation and one who is hospitalized.
Jefferson County Health Department reported four new cases. 12 are currently in isolation.
The Washington County Health Department reported one new case on Tuesday and Wednesday, with four active cases.
The statewide positivity rate for the past seven days is 4.2-percent. A record 154,201 doses of vaccine were administered on Wednesday, bringing the total number of vaccines administered to 6,707,183.
