The number of Monkeypox cases in Illinois surpassed 1,000 on Friday.
Illinois becomes the sixth state to reach that plateau just three months after the virus was first reported in Illinois.
Chicago has 807 cases or more than 80 percent of the new cases in the state. No cases have been reported in South Central Illinois, but there have been five cases in St. Clair County and three cases in Madison County. In the central part of the state, ten cases have been reported in Champaign County and two apiece in Sangamon and Macon Counties which are the Springfield and Decatur areas.
The US has reached 16,926 cases, which is the highest number for any country in the world.
On the positive side, Chicago’s Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady indicated there are definite signs the number of new cases are slowing and they are no longer seeing the exponential growth that occurred early on. The Chicago cases have resulted in 46 hospitalizations.
