Updated 7/30/2021 7:05 PM Sixteen months into the pandemic, COVID-19 case counts in Illinois are higher than they were a year ago. Hospitalizations and deaths are lower than at this time last year, however, with health officials crediting the vaccines.
Now, the state is averaging 1,669 new cases a day for the week, Illinois Department of Public Health records show. During the same seven-day period last year, the state was averaging 1,424 new cases each day. The state's seven-day case positivity rate of 4% also is also higher than it was a year ago, when it was 3.8%. But the biggest difference between the end of July this year versus that point last year are the hospitalizations and deaths caused by the virus.