Page 4 - Jonathan Pinsky News Today

Health experts warn that while masks are largely gone in most indoor settings these day, the pandemic isnt over just yet. "Could there be clusters of cases, especially because of no mask requirement? I cant predict how much of that is going to have an impact," one said.

Health experts warn that while masks are largely gone in most indoor settings these day, the pandemic isnt over just yet. "Could there be clusters of cases, especially because of no mask requirement? I cant predict how much of that is going to have an impact," one said.

The states seven-day COVID-19 case positivity rate dips into single digits for the first time since Dec. 29. "We expect over the next few weeks, its going to decrease tremendously, but its not going away," one expert says.

Patients in the hospital with COVID-19 came to 7,353 as of Monday night, the highest number since the pandemic began.

Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that states with lower COVID-19 vaccination rates experienced more deaths per capita in 2021. Heres where Illinois ranked, and how the states results improved from 2020.

COVID-19 provides another whirlwind year for Illinois as vaccines arrive, but variants threaten to upend all the progress made in 2021.

Death rates from COVID-19 in Illinois dropped in 2021 by over 45% from 2020, a welcome trend thats due in large part to vaccines, experts said. The state also reported its second highest new-case tally as omicron proliferates.

The seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases jumped by 30% in two weeks, state data showed Monday, as the tally of Illinoisans getting booster shots, a crucial tool against the virus and the emerging omicron variant, lagged.

Illinois Department of Public Health officials have confirmed the first state case of COVID-19 caused by the highly transmissible omicron variant.

Illinois Department of Public Health officials have confirmed the first state case of COVID-19 caused by the highly transmissible omicron variant.