The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 3,340 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the highest daily count in two months and the latest red flag in the state’s three-week upswing in infections.
The change in coronavirus data reporting follows new guidelines set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which place more emphasis on hospitalizations and case rates per 100,000 residents.
Illinois logged another 6,664 COVID-19 cases on Monday – the lowest daily caseload in seven weeks. Hospitalizations and the number of deaths from the virus also dropped yet again. But that encouraging news was tempered a bit by a report of the first case of the Omicron subvariant in Illinois.