The Illinois Department of Public Health is reporting another 108 additional deaths from COVID-19 on Saturday. One of the deaths was in South Central Illinois. A female in her 90s from Washington County. Other Southern Illinois deaths were reported in Franklin, Lawrence, Madison, Randolph, Richland, Saline, and St. Clair Counties. The total number of deaths since the pandemic began in Illinois is now over 15,000 at 15,123.
There were 7,562 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease reported on Saturday. Total cases around the state now total 894,367.
The state’s positivity rate bumped up two -tenths of a percent for the past week on Saturday to 8.2-percent. The positivity rate for the Southern Illinois Region for the week ending December 16th is 11.6-percent. Marion County’s rate is 9.4-percent. The Metro East Region remains at 12-percent for the third day in a row. The East Central Region positivity rate has fallen to 8.2-percent.
The number of ICU beds remains under the 20 percent threshold in the Southern Illinois Region at 18.5-percent. In the Metro-East Region, only 17.4-percent of ICU beds are available and 16.5-percent of Med-Serg beds.
