COVID cases continue uptick

But state positivity rate for coronavirus testing holds steady at 3 percent

State workers conduct drive-through COVID-19 testing. (Facebook/IDPH)

By Ted Cox

Newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 continued to inch upward Friday, statewide and in Chicago.

The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 1,384 new cases of the coronavirus, the highest single-day increase since June 2. It brought the state total to 159,334, with 22 new deaths taking the statewide toll to 7,272.

But as cases ticked up, the state reported the second straight day of record testing for the coronavirus, topping 43,000 again with a new one-day high of 43,696. The seven-day positivity rate held steady at 3 percent.

According to Chicago’s COVID Dashboard, through Thursday the city reported 232 new cases in a day, up slightly from 223 the previous day. Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said earlier in the week the city was aiming to keep new daily cases under 200.

Yet it was nothing like the surge of cases along the Sun Belt from the Carolinas and Florida to Texas, Arizona, and California. The New York Times reported that the nation recorded a new one-day high of more than 75,000 cases Thursday, along with almost 1,000 deaths — both up by almost half, 42 percent, over the last two weeks.

According to the Times, the United States has reported 3.6 million of the world’s 13.8 million cases globally, and 138,753 of the world’s 592,339 deaths.

The spike in cases across the South and West prompted Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to both issue stern warnings Wednesday for state residents to observe the three W’s — wear a mask, watch your distance, wash hands — to contain the spread of COVID-19 or risk backtracking on efforts to reopen the economy. That advice holds for the hot weekend forecast for the state.