Illinois Department of Public Health officials say the number of new COVID-19 cases for the week ending Friday dropped by more than half over the previous week.
There were 60,389 new cases compared to 123,812 the prior week. There were 608 additional COVID-19 related deaths reported during the past week down nearly 28-percent from 843 the prior week.
As of Thursday night, 3,135 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. That’s down 31-percent. Of those, 546 patients were in the ICU and 314 on ventilators.
Governor JB Pritzker was asked if the falling numbers mean the mask mandate may be lifted soon.
“I believe we should remove masks as soon as we possibly can. I am constantly listening to doctors and scientists and encouraging them. What is the right time, what is the right way to do that? So very hopeful, we will be able to make some announcements about that,” said Pritzker.
Of Illinois’ total population, more than 75% has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, 66% of Illinois’ total population is fully vaccinated, and more than 47% boosted according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, the number of new doses being administered each day has been declining.
